Heart of Fire, Heart of Ice
by SongSiren
Summary: Abel comes to Albion after years of hunting Cain. Now Esther is gone and all he has left of her are the simple words 'I want you to love again' Can he do that? And will this girl melt his icy heart when she had her own heart to unfreeze?
1. Prolouge

A/N: All right, I'm sorry people, but I couldn't get this out of my mind. And I know you are all going to hate me for killing Esther, but this is for the sake of my sanity. I really love abel/esther. They are the best couple ever and I can barely stand myself for doing this.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Trinity Blood. May the creator of this wonderful series rest in peace.**

Prologue 

"ESTHER!" Abel's vice rang out through the rain that was pattering on the heavily curtained windows. Father Abel fell to his knees on the rich wine-colored carpet.

Virgil came up behind him, his voice laced with remorse. "I'm sorry, Father Abel. She was a human. She was old. It's just been…" Virgil took a deep breath, trying to collect himself. "It's just been too long."

Abel crumpled, the picture, the essence, of a broken man. His Esther… his poor Esther. He had left her… alone. He had done the unthinkable, the unforgivable. All to kill his dammed brother, Cain. If he were not already dead, Abel would kill him slowly.

"Father, if there is any consolation, she was thinking of you in her final thoughts, and her final breath was on your name."

"It should not have been wasted." Abel muttered darkly as he got up and leaned an arm against the window.

Virgil stood behind him, "Father, please. She loved you. She wanted you to be happy. Many times over the years she had told me that she would not have asked you to stay. She knew that you weren't going to be happy without him gone."

"I should have stayed… I should have helped her…"

"Abel!" Virgil yelled. "No matter what you did, your pain would be there. Cain would have come to kill her if you stayed. You would always be worried. There would have been no escape!"

"I would have protected her." Abel said, keeping his dark sorrowful voice.

"And would have died trying to do so. It was only recently that you were able to put so much as a scratch on Cain." Virgil said, his vampire sensibility trying to overtake Abel's mourning.

Only a small whimper passed between Abel's lips.

Vigil put his hand comradely on Abel's sloped shoulders. "Abel, this is for you. They are the last things Queen Esther ever wrote." He handed the priest a thick envelope. Abel took it with numb hands. "Abel, do you want me to get Father Tres?"

"No, I'll…" Abel faltered. "I'll be fine." Abel walked out of the room and went the room he had been allotted.

When he got there and had closed the door, he fell to his knees and made a sound like a wounded animal. His shoulders shook with his tears and he pounded the floor. When he could breathe, he crawled over to the bed and dragged himself up. Then his body began trembling again. He didn't think, he didn't need to.

There was a knock at the door. Abel didn't even try to collect himself. He swallowed a few times and willed his voice not to crack.

"What?" he barked sharply.

"Father Abel, status report." Came Tres's monotone voice, devoid of any emotion at all.

Abel became angry then. Angry that Tres could ask him a question like that when it was obvious he could not answer. Abel felt his blood boil, but he bit his tongue. _I must remember he's an android. _He called out, his voice cracking slightly, "I need time, Tres. I need to be alone."

"Am I not right, Father Abel, when you have had thirty point six months to…"

"Yes, Tres." Abel called sharply. "But I cannot talk now."

"Acceptable." Abel heard Tres's footsteps fade down the hall.

How could Tres feel nothing? Surely he had at least _liked_ Esther enough to be sensitive to the fact that she… was no longer with them. Abel slid off the bed and onto his knees, clasping his hands together, he uttered a long prayer, sometimes repeating himself to make sure that he confessed every sin, and all that he would do to make amends for that sin if he could one day end up in heaven with his Esther.

When he was done, tears flowed freely down his face as he raised his head heaven word and said in a daringly hopeful voice, "My Esther, please, please forgive me. I am not worth your thoughts and leaving you was a sin in itself. I cannot express my grief and nor do I want to inflict it on you, as I have done already much…" Abel's voice broke. "… too much. Esther, I'm sorry."

Abel hung his head. As his eyes were brought up, he saw the letter from Esther he had so unceremoniously dropped on the floor. His hands shook as he picked it up and he sat in the plush red chair in the corner. He opened the envelope and out slid something into his lap. The first thing he noticed was fifty dinars. Abel smiled wrly, despite the overflowing tears threatening to swallow his blue eyes. He always needed money from Esther, and she remembered after all those years.

Then he notice something much larger. It was his old glasses! A note was tied to them with… his old black velvet ribbon! Abel removed the small rope he had been using to tie his long hair up. He tied his velvet ribbon and put his glasses back into place. He picked up the note.

_Abel,_

_I found these the day I became queen after your, let's say hurried exit. I knew you'd want them, so here they are, just as they were the day you left._

_E._

Abel put the note back into the envelope. He reached in and found a letter. The first thing he noticed was that the handwriting was much smaller. It was obvious that se was much older when she wrote it. Another heart-wrenching reminder that Abel never came back.

_My dear Abel,_

_I hope this letter finds you as well as you were the day you left, better in fact. I know my time is short and I can't stop myself from thinking of you and only you. I have no one in this world that has ever made me care about their well-being as much as you have, and yet I haven't seen you in years._

_I'll bet that though I have changed much in the past years, you have not changed a wink. If you can believe this, I can remember everything about you. Oh well, I do not need to tell you who you are or what you look like. If you need to know, look in a mirror._

_Abel, I want you to know that I love you and always have. I never gave up hope that you would come back. Now I want you to know that you have always been with me, and now I will always be with you. Abel, I know that you will grieve and I know that you feel as if you have sinned, but believe me when I tell you, you are not the monster you think you are and have no reason to be sad. If I were with you right now, I'd probably bring you out for a special dinner. Some large dish, and thirteen sugars I believe?_

_Anyway, I'm sure you do not want to listen to an old lady's drabble... _(Abel's heart tighten sickeningly at the words 'old lady's) _or perhaps you do. Don't dwell over this, Abel. We all knew it would happen. I want you to fall in love with life. I want you to live-_

Abel blinked. His anger rose again. _I can't do that, esther. Damnit, why can't you understand this? I can't1 I won't! _He swallowed his heart and felt like his stomach was coming out. He sobbed into his hands, though he smudged the precious writing. He fell asleep like that.

If someone were to look in on the broken man, they would have seen the note. And they would have seen written quite clearly

Abel, I want you to fall in love again. 

**A/N: again, I want you to know that I love the esther/abel pairing and I'm sorry if I totally screwed up, but this is, if not for anything else, for my sanity.**


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Again I apologize for killing and making the wonderful characters of this show old.

**Disclaimer: The creator of this show's memory lives on.**

Abel sat under the awning. It was a beautiful spring day. He sat back for a few moments and enjoyed the warm breeze. He smiled to himself as he remembered that awful day a year ago. He had thought he would never be happy again, but after a few months of moping, he was reminded by his old friend Father Leon about the note Esther had left him.

She was right, of course. Then again she had seldom been wrong. He enjoyed life to the fullest extent and had not gone on any serious missions in a while. Of course, he was hurting inside, and the hurt never went away totally, but it could be ignored for a while. For moments like this.

He remained the scatter-brained priest he always was. He was quieter than usual, only talking when necessary and most of his time was either spent alone. Except when he was with Father Leon.

"Father Abel!" there he was. Father Leon sat next to Abel. "Are you doing alright? Ye looked a little… ye know…. Stormy last night."

This was Father Michael Leon, son of the original Father Leon and was quiet a bit younger than any of the others priests and nuns that worked for AX. No one knew how the young father came about, with the celibacy rules and all. The rules were optional, but Father Leon had taken them after needing to show his… loyalty to the church. Father Leon had disappeared for a few months, and came back with a young child and quite a few more lines on his face. Besides the wrinkles, father a son looked exactly alike. Both had the long black curls and tan skin. And even at this young age, Father M. Leon could fight as well as his father did in his younger days. Of course, Father Leon Jr.'s vocabulary rivaled his father's. it was for all these reasons and more that Father Abel and Father Tres had taken the young man under their wings.

Abel smiled at the boy's concern. "Of course, I just was thinking on the past."

Father Leon fixed him with a glare. "You know you should not try and think of awful things of these nice days." Leon stood up, yawned and stretched his arms behind his head. "See ya later. I'm going to go and bug people before Tres finds me."

Abel smiled. Then his smile turned to an all out grin. Surely Tres was coming to tell them to go see Sister Kate. _No, _thought Abel. _She was promoted last month._

Last month, after much pushing, Lady Catharine had been 'persuaded' to retire and Sister Kate had taken her place. The Sister was able to fill out her duties as cardinal and remain captain of the Iron Maiden. Abel insisted on calling her Sister Kate, to her chagrin.

Abel was excited as Tres came walking up. He was sure to be allowed to go to this one. Though he liked the peace and solitude of an unofficial retirement, he wanted to get out in the field again, however much stress it caused. Father Tres stopped in fron of him.

"Father Abel Nightroad. I have been ordered to retrieve both you and Father Michael Leon and report back to Cardinal Kate's office for a briefing on a new assignment."

Abel grinned. "Well let's go, then."

"Negative." Tres replied in his usual monotone. "Objective one: find fathers Abel Nightroad and Leon: fifty percent complete." Tres continued in the direction father Leon had gone in.

Abel followed; his eyes eagerly scanned the shrubs and scenery of the young father. As much as he loved his friend's antics, he wanted to get going as soon as possible. They found Father Leon talking to a group of blushing nuns. Father Tres's deep voice sent them scurrying away.

"Father Michael Leon you are to report to along with Father Abel Nightroad and myself to the office of Cardinal Kate."

"Alright, I was bored anyway." Leon walked away with his hands crossed behind his head.

"Acceptable. Objective one: complete. Objective two: in process." Tres followed Leon.



"No doubt you've all heard of the new civilization that we have recently found." Sister Kate began as soon as the door closed behind Abel.

They all nodded. The civilization was a wonder. Set on a huge continent, it was a flowering country that apparently started out with a huge group of refugees from a Terran slaughter hundreds of years ago, supposedly a few years after Armageddon. It had been completely untouched by anyone except the few Methuselah and Terrans that needed hiding.

"We've come in contact with them a lot over the past few months and we are a little confused. It seems that their culture is of strict design. We want to know if the people are, well, suffering. We have had evidence that might support that the people are being treated very unkindly and the way their king talks about expansion… well, lets just say it is more than a little strange."

Cardinal Kate had been worried about the people's well fare ever since the incidents at Albion thirty-one years ago. She wanted to help all people, and had even gone so far as to send Vatican spies out to see if every city on the continent and the Empire was content.

"I want you to stay there for a week and gather as much data as you can about the lower rings of their society. See how the people are treated and how they feel about it. Understood?"

"Acceptable." Tres answered for them.

"Good. Now, as for money, you'll go into the city with two hundred dinars. I'll leave you, Father Leon to take care of that." Sister Kate fixed Abel with a stern glare. He could only manage a weak smile. "Father Abel, I put you in charge of the personal affairs of the trip. Where you go, what you do, that sort of thing. Of course, you'll travel incognito; we don't want a war on our hands. When asked for your reasoning for leaving our country, tell them you are treated unfairly because of family bloodlines. Abel, you and Tres will be brothers, and Leon, you shall be a friend that is also prejudiced against. Is everything clear?"

Even though everything was not clear, as Kate talked rather fast, Abel nodded. They were dismissed to pack their things. Abel practically ran down the hall with excitement. They were finally going on a mission!

**A/N: sorry, about the uninteresting chapter. I had to bring you all up tp date. I'll get a really good one in soon, though.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: All right! I got a good review. I'm happy. Anyway, the reason Tres doesn't call Abel "Father Abel Nightroad" in these next few chapters is because they are traveling incognito and it wouldn't sound right for a normal person to be called "father"**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood or any of the characters.**

Abel had gone back to his room to find his luggage packed and clothes set out on the bed for him. It disturbed him slightly to know someone was intruding on the slight privacy that a priest was allowed, but he shrugged it off and changed.

The shirt was a plain white button-up long-sleeved shirt. The black pants were made of a slightly stiff material. Abel checked his appearance in the mirror. He looked like a completely normal citizen, ignoring the fact that pants were about an inch short. Oh well. That was the problem being tall. Ax saw no reason to find him clothes that actually fit.

Abel shrugged and grabbed the small suitcase. He met Tres and Leon in the main hall. Both were wearing similar clothes to his, but Leon's shirt was black. They silently regarded each other and were off. Abel was getting excitement butterflies. He couldn't wait to be on the train and off on some chase again.

An hour later, the excitement would come back at random times as Abel stared at the walls of the compartment, searching his tired brain for something to say. Leon had left a little while ago to 'explore the train' which meant that he was terrorizing someone. Priest or not, Father Leon found his brand of fun was completely harmless, and his favorite saying was, "the greatest sin one could commit is to not enjoy life." That left Tres and Abel alone in the compartment and the android did not exactly provide the best of conversations.

"So… er…." Abel was not sure what he could say to the android that he hadn't said in the past few minutes. Besides that, his quietness from over the past year and a half had completely abandoned him.

Luckily for him, Tres felt the same way or at least didn't want to talk anymore. "Abel Nightroad, it seems that you are more talkative today. Quiet and rest is suggested until the first part of our journey is complete."

Abel nodded in silent agreement. He rested his head against the window, watching the scenery rush by. His head was at an angle that gave him almost double sight. A few minutes of this and his eyes and head began to hurt. Sighing dramatically, he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes.



"Abel Nightroad. We are at required destination. It is requested that you wake up." Tres's monotone voice broke through what Abel was sure was a nice dream.

"Wha?" Abel sat up. Tres was standing over him, holding two suitcases. "Oh yes, of course!" He got up too quickly and managed to fall over while trying to grab his bag. "Eh… hehe?"

"Ach! Nightroad, you're a hopeless cause!" Leon said as he smacked himself in the head.

"Status report, Abel Nightroad."

"I know." Abel said, hanging his head. He took his suitcase.



"Now then, where are we going?" Leon said, looking around at the city.

"It seems we are to get right on the boat that will depart in... _ten minutes!!!_"

"Well, let's get going!" Leon, who had never gone on a serious mission from the Ax, had a rather unnerving optimistic outlook on the whole affair.

They ran down the street and ended up having to jump the last few feet from the dock to the ship, but they ended up all right. Of course this was after they showed their passports when they were nearly detained by the captain.

Eventually, they made it to their room. As was customary on that particular ship, they were allowed the first meal on the ship free. As Abel and Leon shoveled food into their mouths, the captain ordered new flyers and brochures be printed up and the sign in the window of the navigational room.

And thus the days went. The voyage lasted three days and nights beyond the first. The days were painfully dull and allowed a lot of thinking time. Unfortunately, when Leon left to bother people, Abel was left alone with no one to talk to, so he came dangerously close many times to lapsing in a deep depression. He thought about Esther so much, he felt as if his heart would break time after time. Luckily, Tres noticed his physical symptoms and immediately ordered Abel to do something more constructive.

Unfortunately, these more constructive things often required him to be out on deck more than he would have liked. He got much unwanted attention from women on the ship. He vaguely recalled once or twice in her earlier years when Lady Catharine would tell him that many women would find his long hair, blue eyes and tall stature very alluring. She was completely right and he received as much, if not more, attention as he did a few decades ago.

So the three days on the ship were spent between trying to mend his heart, preventing it from breaking again, and trying to disentangle himself from the arms of the eligible women on the ship, especially a particularly persistent one named Lonnie.

When the ship came into port the third day, Abel nearly lost his companions in his efforts to get off the boat and away from Lonnie, who had wanted a rather affectionate good-bye.

It seemed that people were stopped at random and asked why they were coming to the country. Apparently, terrorism and stacks were not a worry. There were no disease checks either. It seemed that the country was completely lax. That is, until they entered the actual city and away from the docks.

The sight that Abel beheld convinced him that Sister Kate had been right. The people there were certainly not happy and the lord of this country could not have been anything but a tyrant.

**A/N: All right, I hope you guys are happy because it has been hell with this chapter. It wouldn't leave me alone and every time I pushed the little purple button to read a chapter of a really good story, I ended up feeling guilty. And I feel even more guilty for taking an entire day when I'm getting hits on this story so fast and I have two faithful reviewers that both like my story.**

**Whew. All right, I'm done with my rant. Read and review! I hope you liked the chapter. The next chapter will have a little more action in it, I think. Okay, it will be like comparing a kitten and a tiger with these more gentle chapters and the next one.**


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: All right, it's midnight and I'm still writing from the last chapter. I hate you, imagination.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood.**

It was amazing how everything seemed awful about the city. There were no shops, just houses and work buildings, all two stories tall and painted white, gray, red, or dull blue. There was a huge building rearing out of the city and a spire reaching to the sky. The roofs of all the buildings, including the tower, were sharply built.

The worse thing of all was that the streets were filled with ranks of troops. All of the people seemed scared, and if they came too close to the troops, they were whipped or beaten mercilessly. It didn't matter if they were women or children, young or old. The streets were suspiciously void of any men besides the troops.

Even the skies above seemed to want to cave in on itself. Abel wanted to get on his knees there and then and there and pray for the city. He was about to just that when Tres clapped a strong hand on his shoulder.

"Status report, Abel Nightroad."

"This… this place is awful."

"He's fine, Tres. He just needs a moment." Father Leon said while looking at his friend with concern

"Acceptable."

Abel took a deep breath and let it out. "Right then, let's go and find a place to stay."

They walked for a bit when they came to a part in the road where it sloped downward slightly. They were walking across the street when it seemed a platoon of troops came to a crashing halt in front of them. A fart man stepped forward, his face red with anger.

"How dare you get in the way!" the fat man raised his whip. Abel and Leon raised their arms to protect themselves as the whip cracked the air and came swooshing down on them, but it never hit its mark.

Abel was the first to open his eyes. The figure of a small girl was before him. The whip was coiled around her thin arm. There was a sharp intake of breath, but the girl let it out slowly.

"What were you thinking? They are just travelers!" She yelled angrily at them. Her brown-red hair seemed to swirl angrily around her.

Quickly, the whip was bright back from her arm and slashed her across the face. She stepped back with a hiss of pain. As she moved back, Abel noticed that her big blue eyes seemed to be brimming with hatred for the man in front of her.

"Young lady, I am sorry but the punishment for meddling with the affairs of the government is being whipped until unconsciousness." The man's voice alone told Abel that he would like nothing more than to whip the small girl in front of him to death.

"I'll take it all." She snarled viciously, her very posture radiating her defiance.

The man smiled cruelly. "All right then." He whispered.

The girl stood stock still as the whip hit her. After a few minutes, a ring of curious troops and on lookers came to see the scene. The troops did nothing to shoo the people away from the girl's agony. In fact, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, making bets with the civilians.

A few minutes later, the whips drew blood. An hour after that, the girl had many cuts and was bleeding profusely. Abel couldn't stand the trouble they had caused.

"Please, stop!" he called piteously to the man with the whip. The man ignored him, hitting the girl extra hard a few times. The girl fell into a puddle, but with a grunt of effort, she pushed herself back up.

The man, realizing that this was going to go slowly, grinned wickedly and raised the whip again, while calling to his troops. "Get chains and salt water!" men hurried off to do his bidding.

Abel turned to the girl. "Fall down, pretend! Please, do not do this!" He cried out.

"No." The girl spoke for the first time. "I intervened. I'll take the punishment. But that doesn't mean I can't hate my punisher with every fiber of my being." Her voice was cold and smooth, but there was a fire in it that said more than her words.

An old woman clutched Abel's arm. He leaned down to listen. "That is Stella. She won't stop until she actually is unconscious, or stone cold dead. Don't worry. With the chains she'll go down. Leave, you'll only make this harder by telling her to pretend to be hurt."

Abel nodded. He called to his friends, "let's go." They left as the troops came back, hauling the first barrel of salt water.



Hours later, Abel sat with his arms crossed behind his head. He didn't feel right about something and wanted to go back to where they had left the girl. It was pitch dark out now, but he knew they had to leave. When he asked Tres and Leon, both agreed quickly.

When they came to the bottom of the hill where they had left the girl, Abel stopped them. He could see the crowd still standing under makeshift lights, but something else troubled him. He looked down and saw a crimson-nearly-black puddle pooling at his feet. A small stream was feeding it.

"Oh, dear lord, no." Abel whispered and charged up the hill.

Stella was standing there, nearly doubled over in pain, and holding her side, waiting for the next hit of the bloodied chain that was clutched grimly in a new guard's hands. Blood made her clothes cling to her slim figure, and there was a lot of it. Her entire front and back were covered in wicked looking gashes. The ones on her arms and legs that were not covered by her long brown- well, brown-red skirt.

Citizens were crying out for her to stay down, but she ignored them and stared her tormentor down, a waiting the next hit. It came, and she was sent flying back. So close, that Abel resisted the urge to reach out and save her. While she was down, the guard next to him poured a bucket of salt water of her. It was so bad that the water nearly hissed when it touched her wounds.

She hissed with pain, but got up nevertheless. Her determination and spite were admirable, if verging on the stupid. She coughed, and then spat out blood. A few minutes later, after Leon and Abel made the cries of the citizens twice as loud, the fat man from before came running up.

"I got it!" the man said with an evident glee that should not be heard out of a grown-man. He waved a piece of paper in his hand. He cleared his throat and said quite clearly, so all could hear, "For disobeying and deliberate rebelliousness to the government, you have been ordered by the head to be…" A malicious glint appeared in his eyes, "… executed."

Stella looked up, a distant and somewhat- detached look in her eyes. "So… whatever I do next. I'm gonna die. Is that right?"

"Well… er, yes." The man was put off by her obvious aloof attitude.

A slow smile crept its way across her face and the look in her blue eyes sent shivers down Abel's spine. "You know, a wise man I once knew told me, if you are going down, go down with a bam."

No later had she said this, when she moved her hands upward in a slicing motion. Abel's eyes grew wide as the earth in front of the man holding the whip came jutting out of the ground. The girl didn't even flinch as the man's neck snapped. Suddenly, Abel felt something beneath his foot. The water beneath the crowd pushed its way up and the girl twirled, arms outstretched. The water hit only troops as it froze.

Her eyes turned blood red, and Abel recognized the look of someone who was about to kill. He felt horrible, like someone punched him in the stomach. He couldn't do a thing to stop it.

The girl was raised into the air by some moment that gravity decided to stop working. Her face was one of both rage and impassiveness. The bloody water rose from the ground and encircled the last trooper standing, the fat man who had first caused her the pain. It covered his entire body, and the man knew he was going to die. The girl stared at him for one long breathless moment- before clenching her hand.

The man's last shriek echoed in the air. The water tightened and crushed in from the outside in. All that was left as the water leeched away was the mangled corpse. When the water left, the girl was placed back onto the ground.

The bloodlust left her eyes, and she looked around at the crowd. They all pulled back from her, as if she were something filthy. Abel stayed where he was. He offered her no disgust or anger, he left his face impassive. A small sob escaped the girl's throat and she ran then, running past Abel to the nearest alleyway.

As if just realizing she was gone, he whipped around and called out. "Wait."

She was gone, so Abel did the only thing that came to mind. He ran after her. He ran through the dank alleyway as fast as he could, yelling out to her, desperately, pleadingly.

He found her, a pile of bloody rags, sobbing at the farthest end of the alley. He offered out his hand to touch her shoulder, but she moved suddenly and looked at him with a pleading look that was sorrowfully familiar to him.

"I'm sorry…. I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm a monster." She whispered, still hiding her face from him.

Abel's heart clenched. He nearly hissed with the pain of it. Before he knew what he was doing, he stooped down and held her to him. He whispered into her hair, "You are not a monster."

**A/N: All right I hope you all are grateful. It's 1:05 exactly. I hope you liked the chapter; I'm not so good at writing fight scenes.**


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, I've been at this desk all night, and now I'm here only 10 hours later, trying to get a good chapter out. And it seems I haven't generated 1 bad review. Whohooo! I have a huge headache that seems to go away when I'm sitting here, so I'll take this as a divine sign from above.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood.**

The girl stopped moving eventually; Abel thought she had finally passed out from the pain. He shifted slightly to see her face, and she whimpered. She brought her face up to see his, the pain of her wounds evident only in her eyes.

"If you must move, then please do it quickly. It hurts for something to move across the cuts." She said quietly.

Abel nodded and took his hands off her shoulders. She settled back so her back was just slightly off the wall. She was breathing heavily. Abel looked around and found more trash and places where bacteria could breed than he would have liked.

"Perhaps, Miss, perhaps we should move." He offered.

"Can't." She panted out.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Abel asked. She didn't look as if she weighed much and he really did want to get back to his friends so they could help.

The girl shook her head and seemed to read his mind, because she croaked out, "if you need to go somewhere, go. Because it doesn't look like I'll be going anywhere until morning, at least."

"Please, I can get you out here, I can help you…" Abel's voice trailed off as she shook her head again.

"No. If I move, it'll start bleeding again." Abel must have looked confused, because she motioned to her side and moved her arm away.

In this spot the whip had actually torn away the cloth of her clothing and bit deep into her flesh. For now, it had stopped pouring blood out, but if she moved at all, it would begin again.

Abel sat down; he was sure Leon and Tres were capable of finding him. "I'm Father Abel Nightroad." He said putting out a hand. He didn't drop the father thing because he was sure that they would be going home tomorrow, with this girl in tow. "You don't have to be brave in front of me, _because I am your friend._" Abel breathed in sharply as he felt the sense of déjà vu.

The girl managed to lift her hand halfway before having to drop it. She settled for a grim smile, instead. "I'm Stella…" she wavered and had the blank look of one trying to remember. "Stella..." she had the look of one who remembered, but she bit her lip.

"It's all right, you don't have to tell me." Abel said softly.

He looked up. He heard boots running on cobblestones. He was sure it was his friends, but he didn't want to take any unnecessary chances. He stood in front of the girl and waited.

Tres came into view first. He didn't so much as bat an eye at the cowering girl behind Abel. "Status report, Abel Nightroad."

"This girl is hurt. We are going home as soon as possible. And we are taking…" Abel wavered. He didn't even ask the girl if she wanted to go with them. He turned his head over his shoulder. "Stella, do you want to accompany us back to the Vatican?"

Her eyes widened, then she hung her head in a rejected was and said in a sigh, "There is nothing for me here. Yes, I will go with you to this place called the Vatican."

Leon, who had finally caught up, said between breaths, "Abel… who… is this?"

"Michael, her name is Stella, she will accompany us back to the Vatican." Abel said, all traces of his usual feather-brainedness gone.

"Abel Nightroad, please complete status report." Tres's voice cut through the night air.

"Right, Stella is hurt. We'll need to carry her. One particularly bad wound will have to be careful of."

"Acceptable." Tres walked around Abel and scooped the girl up as if she weighed nothing.

Stella looked up fearfully, but seemed too busy with stemming the flow of the open wound to sheik with fear. Abel looked to make sure she was going to be all right, and then led them out of the alleyway and onto the street. He stopped the closest person, an old crone.

"Excuse me, but do you know the next time _The Marilee _will be sailing out?" Abel asked, recalling the name of their ship.

The woman smiled kindly, "Yes, it should be in about thirty minutes."

"Thank you." Abel returned her smile and started to walk down the street, but was stopped as the woman's shriek rent the night air.

"Ahhhh…. It's the killer! Somebody hurry!" She cried out. There were loud calls and sounds of people running.

"Run!" Abel yelled. He had no wish to fight these men.

"Acceptable." Tres said behind him as the started off.

They lost the men quickly enough and returned to the small inn they were staying at. When they got there, the woman behind the front desk saw Stella immediately and narrowed her eyes.

"We have no place for her here." She said coldly.

"Fine!" Abel barked out. "Just get our bags!"

The woman called a small boy, who carried out the three bags. Leon and Abel grabbed them and once again they were running through the streets. Luckily, they met no one lese on the way and were five minutes early to the ship's sail. The captain greeted them warmly, knowing he would make a profit from Abel and Leon's bottomless stomachs.

"Hello, sirs. You seem to be back soon!" He commented.

Abel waved him off. "There was a complication." He handed him money for four passengers.

The man frowned as he counted out the money and it didn't take long before his eyes fell on Stella. "Oh no. I'm not taking that demon aboard!"

Abel fixed him with a piercing glare that Leon didn't know was capable of what was yesterday, a scatterbrained, fun loving priest. "Then give us our money back. We'll find somewhere else to go."

The captain was a money-loving man and once he had some in his possession, he was not likely to let it go. He swallowed, and then said through a gray moustache, "All right, she can stay, but she's not coming out of that room. If she does, I won't hesitate to through her overboard."

Abel nodded to show his understanding, and then let Tres pass with the girl. Abel took the keys to their room from the man and followed silently. When he had locked the door, he noticed Stella was wriggling defiantly in Tres's arms.

"All right, dude. Let me down now. I need to sit down."

"Negative. You are in no condition to know what you need." Tres moved his arms slightly upward to cause Stella to stop squirming.

Realizing her trying was futile, she settled for crossing her arms and glaring at Tres. Leon laughed softly.

"Father Abel Nightroad, as you are in charge of this mission, what do you propose we do?"

"Ummm…" Now that he felt safe, Abel had allowed himself to be scatter-brained and to tell the truth, he had no idea what they should do for the injured girl.

Stella took advantage of Tres's momentary indecisiveness and jumped out of his arms, landing neatly on the floor. She still seemed weak, but at least she was getting used to the pain.

She looked at Abel. "May I suggest, Father Abel that you get me some bandages or let me tear up the sheet so I can stop the bleeding?" She motioned to the wound by her side, which by now was belching blood out at an incredible rate. Stella swayed slightly.

"Uhh… sure?" Abel guessed.

They watched as Stella took an incredibly white sheet and turned it into a bloody mass trying to stem the blood flow. Sighing, she wrapped a piece around her torso. Abel frowned when he looked at it. The blood was still pouring out and Stella was growing pale.

"Umm… Father Tres? Father Leon? Why don't you two go get dinner? I'll come get you when it is time to come in again."

"Acceptable." Tres started out the door.

"What? What's going on?" Leon seemed confused.

Abel gave him a look and he left. Stella looked suspiciously at Abel as he dug through his bag. He tried to smile reassuringly as he found what he wanted.

"Listen, Stella. That wound won't stop bleeding and it will take three days before you can get medical attention. I need you to trust me."

Stella looked doubtful for a moment then nodded. "Abel, you trusted me not to hurt you in the alleyway. I trust you to do whatever you think is best." She said softly.

Abel held up the needle. Stella stiffened and her eyes widened. She started to shake violently. She dropped to the floor. Abel was at her side in an instant.

"Stella! Stella? Are you okay? Stella, answer me!"

Stella didn't look at him. She stared at the floor in front of her. She whispered something. Abel only caught the words "no", "medical", and "so many needles." A few seconds after, she looked at Abel's blue eyes. Abel felt like she was searching for a reason to not trust him, to pull away.

She found none and said softly, "I trust you, Father Abel."

**A/N: So… likee? No likee? Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Wow. I left for three hours and my hits went from 80 to 140! Awesome. Oh and I have three faithful reviewers now. Yeah!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood or any of its characters.**

Stella shivered as the needle pierced her flesh. She gritted her teeth and didn't look. Instead, she watched Father Abel's concentrated face. After many hisses of pain, Abel finally announced that they were finished.

They sat in silence for a few minutes after Abel had checked to see if his friends were back. They were not. Abel sat at the edge of the bed and Stella curled up at the other end of the bed.

Suddenly, she asked, "Father Abel?"

"Hmm?" Abel looked behind him.

"Who are your children? And isn't Father Leon a little young to have children?" Stella asked innocently.

"Wha?" Abel pulled back. Then he laughed nervously. "Eh, hehe. No, ye see, Stella, we are called fathers because we work for the church and we are traveling priests."

Stella's eyebrows drew together. "What's a church? Is it the Vatican? Is a traveling priest like a traveling minstrel?"

So the next hour flew by, Abel explaining every aspect of church to Stella. When he asked if she understood, she would say yes, however ridiculous or hard to understand the thing in question was. She had learned from the first few times she didn't comprehend that it was simply easier to say she did understand, rather than ask him to explain it all over again for it to sound the same way it did backwards as forwards. Eventually, a gurgling sound stopped Abel in mid-sentence.

Stella laughed lightly. "It's alright, Father Nightroad," she had taken to calling him his formal name so as to not sound 'improper', " you can go up to dinner." When Abel eyed her suspiciously she held up her hands. "I promise I won't leave. I want to sleep anyway."

Abel nodded, understanding. _It must have been rather hard fro her to understand what I was saying after all of that blood loss. How inconsiderate of me. _He thought as he left the room.



Stella lay down tiredly after Father Nightroad had left. She was so tired, yet she had not wanted to sleep while Father Nightroad had been in the room. She felt that she owed him at least her attention. Her mind drifted through thoughts about the strange priest and his ability to make simple gestures that made one so likely to trust him. Sighing, she fell into a deep sleep.



When Abel returned hours later, Stella was still sleeping. He let her rest and lay down in the other bed himself. Leon and Tres had been allowed to move to another cabin due to shortage of passengers.

The next morning, Abel dressed quickly and scribbled out a note to Stella, telling her that he would be back with food later. He got caught up in a huge mess that involved one of the learning sailors had caused the ship to careen into an incoming wave. All of the passengers had to help bail water off of the deck. He came in with a huge brunch later and apologized three times before he noticed Stella was still sleeping, and the note was untouched.

Abel left to see his companions. Later that night, Abel came into the room and found Stella in the same position as before, her back to him. That's when he got worried. He brought Tres to do an analysis of her. Tres bent over the still form of the girl for a few seconds before standing up, red eye glowing.

"Analysis: Stella is in a state of shock from blood loss. She is dehydrated. She will come out of coma in three to six hours." Tres said in his usual monotone.

Abel nodded, relieved. "Yes, thank you Tres."

Tres didn't reply, instead he left the room.

Abel completely trusted Tres's evaluation, so after one hour, when Stella sat up, he was shocked. She groaned a bit, was still pale and was wary of weight on her side, but other than that she seemed to be completely fine.

She smiled at Abel. "Um… can I have some water, please?"

Abel handed her a cup from the morning tray. "Easy now, you need to drink slowly or you'll just choke it back up."

Stella rolled her eyes a little and accepted the cup. "I know. My mom told me that once after I had nearly died of dehydration."

"Where's your mother now?" Abel asked out of curiosity.

A shadow crossed Stella's pale face, giving her a pure ghostly looking appearance. "She's gone." She said quietly and almost vehemently. Somehow the violent and haunted look in her eyes did not suit her.

_Of course, does it really suit anyone? _"Oh. I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." Stella said bitterly, taking another sip from the glass.

"How did she die?" Abel asked softly.

Stella's eyes flashed. "She was murdered." She said shortly.

Abel let the subject drop. "Goodnight, and pleasant dreams." He said, standing up.

Stella smiled half-heartedly. "And to you." She inclined her head.

Abel smiled back, and as he wasn't looking where he was going, tripped right over his own narrow bed and onto the floor.

"Father Nightroad!" Stella's voice radiated fear and concern for his safety as she got up.

"Eh?" Abel lifted his head up and found his glasses perched crazily on his nose.

Stella giggled. "Are you always this clumsy?" She tried to sound serious and added to the affect by putting her hands on her hips. She failed miserably and leaned over giggling.



The train whistle split into Stella's head almost blinding her. She was feeling the after affects of being ill and not liking it one bit. She refused to burden her friends with her ill feelings even when Father Tres asked her for a 'status report'.

Soon after the train left the station, Tres and Abel left the compartment for something to eat. Brushing her shyness aside like one would brush away cobwebs, Stella asked Father Leon about Tres.

He smiled disarmingly at her and scratched the side of his head. "Well… you see… he's an android."

Stella's eyes widened. "An android, Father Leon? You mean like a highly advanced robot, right?"

"Yep, you hit the nail on the head." Leon said, sitting back. "And forget this 'Father Leon' stuff. When we are alone of with Father Abel, I'm Michael, or Leon. All right Miss Stella? I find the father stuff a little old." He smiled again and Stella was forced to agree.

"All right. But I'm Stella. Just Stella. I don't care whom we are around, I'm Stella. Call me anything else and I'll kick your-"

"Point taken!" Leon held his hands up. "We got a deal?" He stuck out his right hand and Stella promptly shook it.

"Deal."



When they finally arrived home, the first thing Stella did walking out onto the street was look around in wonder. Abel knew from the few hours he spent in her city that it was a rather harsh difference. She stood with her mouth slightly open for a few seconds before frowning. She turned to Abel.

"Where are all the Methuselah?"

Before Abel could answer, Stella turned her head in another direction. A second later, Abel felt little bursts of electricity throughout his system.

"Oh, there they are."

**A/N: Cliffie! Yay! It's now 10:57 and I've been trying to dodge around family stuff all day. All in all, it took me about an hour to write this. **


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Well, thanks to one reviewer (who shall remain nameless) I'm up all night again. Oh well, better than watching reruns.**

**Disclaimer: I don not own Trinity Blood.**

"Stella!" Abel shouted as he jumped on her.

The Methuselahs' claws barely missed Abel's unprotected back. The two vampires stopped flying a few feet away. They hissed before one of them spoke up.

"Killer of the Order of Rosen Kruez… you shall pay!"

Their features changed to distorted rage as they began running with their claws outstretched. Abel pushed himself back up in time to dodge another of their sharp onslaughts.

"Leon, take care of Stella!" he shouted.

Leon ran to the girl's side, but her voice rang out. "No. Abel, move aside."

Abel didn't move. He wouldn't' let this girl die at the hands of Methuselah when she had obviously gone through so much. But Stella had other ideas. As the vampires attacked again, Stella jumped and pushed Abel aside. Her hands reached out and caught one by the wrist. Her hand glowed faintly in the bright sun.

"Damn you!" He snarled and raised his hand to strike.

"It's all right."

"What?" The vampire asked, astonished.

"It's all right. You are in pain because of your brother's death at the hands of this man, yes? You will be all right. You do not need to stoop to the level of a Terran because you are hurt."

The vampire blinked. "I…I…" He didn't know how to kill Abel without being accused of being a Terran.

"We _are_ better than that. You _can_ fight against him, but when you do, you'll show him that you _are_ defiant. Just because we do not fight back does not mean we are not strong. It does not mean that one day we will not get our revenge." Stella stared him right in the eye. "You are of no help to your people dead."

The vampire's claws retracted and he stared in wonder at the girl in front of him. She flashed him a smile and all doubt vanished from his face.

"Die! Terran lover!" The other vampire rose out of nowhere and Abel could do nothing against his speed.

"Ugh!" There was the sickening sound as the claws met flesh and buried themselves deep. Stella's grip on the vampire's wrist she was holding visibly tightened as she slowly sunk to the ground. "See what happens? We are no better than them, fighting against ourselves. Ugh…" Stella sank to the ground.

"Die!" The Methuselah raised his hand for the final strike.

"No!" Abel cried out. He prepared himself to rush forward, but there was no need.

The other vampire had rushed in front of the stooped form of Stella and had caught the sword-like claw with his bare hands.

"No, Intiki. The girl is right. If we fight our lives will be lost here today, we will find a way to take our revenge and more without hurting our own people." He managed a scathing look at Abel before they both ran off and disappeared.

Meanwhile, whatever precious blood Stella had regained was being lost on the cobblestone road. Abel was at her side.

"Are you all right?" he asked gently.

Stella looked at him. "No." she looked heavenward. "Why does this keep happening to me?" She asked sarcastically.

"Can you walk?"

"I will." Stella got up, but as Abel bent to see her wounds, which were on the other side of her stitches, she turned the other way. "Where are we going and how far is it?"

"The church is ten point three eight two…" Tres began.

"Got it."

"Leon, give me some money for the cab."

As they hopped in the horse-drawn carriage, Stella sat next to Tres, across from Abel. Her hand was covering the wounds she received from the vampire and her arm was covering her stitched wound, whether intentional or not, Abel remained unsure. He demanded to see Stella's injuries.

"No." she said firmly.

"Why n…"

"No, Abel." She cut him off. "Seeing my wounds will not help the situation anymore. It'll only worry you more than you already are. And don't give me that look, if you see these, you'll be more worried even though they aren't half as bad as they look." She said sharply as Abel gave her an I-don't-believe-you look. "Anyway, Leo… erm… Father Leon had informed me that there are very good doctors where we are going. So don't stress over it." Stella said this with such authority that Abel believed her to be Catharine for a minute.

They rode in silence for the rest of the way. When they got to the front gates of the massive cathedral, a thought struck Abel.

"Oh… won't Sis… I mean _Cardinal _Kate be surprised to see us." He laughed nervously.

"Negative. I've already informed Cardinal Kate of the current situation. We are to report to her office immediately." Tres stated.

"Oh, well I'll just take Stella to the infirmary."

"Negative. Cardinal Kate wants to see Stella." It seemed funny to hear Tres refer to someone without their last name.



Stella allowed herself to be led through the halls. She didn't have the energy to be rebellious and the blood loss was making her light-headed. She entered a room. A holographic woman smiled and talked to her, but she couldn't respond. Abel talked some, and then Stella swayed. The room started to spin. She knew she was going to pass out. She stopped clutching her sides and was aware of blood being spilt on the probably expensive carpets.

"Umm… guys?" She said quietly. Too quietly. They continued talking. "Guys!" she near shouted. All eyes in the room fell on her. "Uhh… the room's spinnin…"

That was it. She couldn't stop the creeping darkness at the corner of her vision. She fell, but was vaguely aware of Father Nightroad calling her name and a pair of arms catching her.

**A/N: all right three chapters in one day is enough. And I'm going to start on the next chapter. You all had better be grateful that I love you enough to be staying up this late. Oh yes, and thank my imagination, which refuses to let me sleep and is in cahoots with my awful mattress. All right, I'm done complaining. **


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm sick. How I got sick in the middle of summer is beyond me. I'm only going to work on this chapter a little, though. (Yeah right) Just to clear this up, the little boxes in between writing can be differences in time or it could change from someone else's point of view. I'm trying to make most of the story through Abel's pov and a little bit of Stella's, but I might have to change it so that it could be from someone else's.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood**.

"Why the hell didn't you take her to the infirmary!" Sister Kate demanded. She made a sign against evil for her cursing.

"Eh? Well, erm, she said she was alright and Tres said we were to report…"

The Cardinal waved his excuses off. "Can you not see with your own eyes? Anyway, why have you returned so soon? Tres was sketchy on the details."

It was very obvious that Abel did not want to be there. He had wanted to leave with Stella so he did not have to talk to the unhappy Cardinal, and before he could make a good enough excuse, Father Leon had beaten him to it. He had left with Stella and Tres, so that meant Abel was braving Sister Kate's temper alone.

Abel, upon hearing that Kate wanted to hear about the city, became very somber. "The buildings are all awful in their uniformity and troop marched around the streets as much as pigeons do around our own. And they treat citizens like dirt. Did you see Stella? Well, all the cuts on her arms, leg, and face were not caused by the vampire." Sister Kate's eyebrows rose at the mention of Methuselah, but she allowed Abel to continue, as it was obvious that Abel was getting angry. "She was whipped for at least six hours with chain whips and salt water poured on her. And because she wouldn't pass out, the men deemed it right to kill her. She…." Abel paused, not sure if her should continue.

"What happened, Abel?" Sister Kate prodded gently.

"She killed them all with special abilities." Abel burst out. He realized then that he had no idea how she had raised the water and the earth, much less turn it into a weapon.

"What special abilities?"

Abel closed his eyes, recalling the gruesome scene. "First, she chopped her hand into the sky, and a large piece of earth just jutted out from the ground, snapping a man's neck. Then she raised all of the water from the ground and sent it out into the crowd. It passed through civilians and hardened into points when it came to the guards. They were all killed. Then she rounded on the final one, and was raised into the air. By then she didn't seem to have control. The water wrapped around his body and rushed him. Then she was let down from the air. She took one look at the crowd and ran."

"And you pursued?" Kate finished for him.

Abel nodded. He knew that Cardinal Kate wanted to hear the rest, but he wouldn't tell her about what had happened in the alleyway, because he also knew that Stella had not liked being venerable and would not like anyone to relive the moment. "We got on the boat, then the train, then went home. When we got off the train, Stella asked where the Methuselah were, then detected some a half second before I could." Abel brushed aside the slight jealousy at her ability. "I was attacked, and she refused to stay back. Instead, she grabbed one of the vampires and talked to it. I can't remember what she said exactly, but it was to the affect of 'we should not fight against ourselves' and that 'he could get his revenge in other ways'. Then the other vampire hit her and was about to kill her when the vampire she was holding stopped him and they left. Hmmm…." Abel thought for a minute. "She had smiled at him when he looked doubtful, and his doubts seemed to vanish."

"Do you think it could be because she is a vampire?" Cardinal Kate obviously didn't like the idea of a vampire being so close.

"No." Abel said with so much finality that he was sure Cardinal Kate would not disagree. "I was right next to her and not one of the nanomachines told me she was a vampire. She is something altogether different." Now that he said it aloud, Abel felt sure of it. "Besides her powers exhibited when she attacked the guards, a small light was in her hand when she touched the vampire, she could tell vampires were coming before I could, and I'm sure there is something else."

"Right then." Cardinal Kate said. "I have a new mission for you." Abel looked up. He hadn't expected one so soon. "I want you to find out all you can from the girl. Her powers, her past, and that city. Dismissed." Abel got up to leave, but as his fingertips brushed the doorknob, Sister Kate called to him. "Oh, and Abel?"

"Hmmm…?" Abel half-turned his head.

"If memory serves me right, you were never good at filing your reports. I want you to do this, and I want the report on my desk when I get here tomorrow morning. Besides that, because you found her, you Tres, and Leon will have to find a way to keep Stella nearby and, preferably, away from ant Methuselah. You will each take turns to stay with her in the infirmary, even if she is unconscious."

Abel went to the infirmary right after he got the necessary paperwork. He figured that if he had to do it, why not kill two birds with one stone? When he opened the door, he found Tres standing up against a wall, and Father Leon snoring in a chair. Across from them, Stella slept in a bed surrounded by a green rubber curtain.

"Status report: Stella had returned after proper stitching fourteen point twenty two seconds ago. Father Leon fell asleep ten point eight seconds ago."

Abel nodded his head. "Right. Well be staying here until Stella is well enough to walk around, then we must find a way to keep her here at church and away from the Methuselah."

"Acceptable."

Abel walked around Tres and gently shook Leon's shoulder. "Michael, wake up. You can go home, I'll tell you everything in the morning."

Father Leon grunted. "Right." Stretching, he got up and began walking towards the exit.

"Tell your father hello for me." Father Leon waved without turning around.

Abel took his place in the chair, and sighing, got down the to tedious report filing. He signed his name in a few areas first, and then began the actual hard work of converting memory to words. He rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long night.



"This one comes out…" Abel woke up to a light voice.

The paperwork had slid from his lap along with the pen and Tres had left on some errand. But most importantly, Stella was trying to disconnect from the wires that were keeping her alive.

"Hey! Stop that!" Abel said loudly.

Stella looked at him. "No. They are irritating and I've got to get out of here."

"Why?" Abel frowned.

Stella smiled. "Because if I have to watch another stream of drool go down your face I'm gonna go crazy."

Abel self-consciously wiped his mouth. "Stella, those things are keeping you alive."

"They are unnecessary."

A nurse came hurrying out of a small office after hearing the talking. She felt around in the folds of her habit to bring out a needle. Abel heard the gasp stick in Stella's throat and remembered her fear of needles. Before she could move away, the nurse had lunged forward and stuck it into her arm. Stella immediately fell down across the bed. The nurse went about checking her wounds, and gasped.

"Father, will you come here please?" Abel nodded and came forward. "Father, you and your friends brought her in here today, and we truly thought she was going to die. We even had asked flowers and a coffin been made for her funeral." Abel's eyes widened. He knew that Stella had been modest about her wounds, but he never thought that she would truly die from them. "But now, well, look."

Abel leaned over. Stella was still wearing the plain brown shirt she had before; of course it was splattered with red. There were rips on both sides of her shirt in the stomach area. First, he examined the stitches her had done a few days before. He gasped. The wound looked fully healed and the stitches looked unnecessary. She looked at her other side, the one closest to him. Three long gashes that he was sure were much worse when she was bleeding looked a lot less serious.

"How…?" breathed Abel.

"It is beyond my knowledge." Abel looked at the small nun. She was young and looked scared.

"It is all right. Go to sleep." Abel said to her. She nodded and lost no time going back to the office/bedroom.

Abel stared at Stella for a long moment before he went back to his chair. He picked up his pen and paper and added her healing ability to things he found strange about his young charge.

"Father Nightroad?" Stella said so quietly that Abel was not sure she was really awake.

He decided to at least answer even if she was half-unconscious. "Hmm?"

"I hate needles."

**A/N: Sorry for the short and uninteresting chapter, but I had to have it in there. I'm happy and probably won't update for a while. Then again, my reviewers, mattress, and imagination have all teamed up so that I am virtually a writing sweatshop.**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: another late night. I got two more good reviews and I feel guilty again. Also, just so you don't get the wrong idea, Stella does not dye her hair, but you'll find that out later at the expense of our poor Father Nightroad.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood.**

The next morning, it was Stella who woke Abel. She shook his shoulders and when he opened a bleary eye, he knew that she had done more than that to wake him. He smiled weakly, fully expecting to be scolded. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't I tell you that if I had to watch another stream of drool go down your face I was going to go crazy?" Abel was surprised to find her voice was filled with good humor and she was actually smiling.

He stood up, ready to apologize, then froze. This was not the same bloodied girl he had brought in with him the day before. She had been cleaned up and given new clothes. The first thing he noticed was that the clothes was much too big for her small form. They hung off her like they would a scarecrow. He noticed that the blue habit set off her eyes nicely. Then he noticed her hair, and his jaw nearly dropped. Before it had been a light brown color, but now it was bordering on black. It was wavy and reached down to mid-back, but two dark crimson curls bordered her face.

Stella must have noticed him staring, because a hand went halfway up to one of the curls before she stopped and closed her eyes. Pressing her lips together, she opened them again.

She gestured down at the habit, "Not exactly practical, especially since I have no intentions of becoming a sister. Besides that, if I want to fight I'll need to move around." She added as an after thought, "Father Nightroad, I believe you were supposed to hand in your report?"

Abel jumped. It must have been close to noon! "I… er… excuse me but…" Abel wasn't sure how he was to explain his need to leave with her.

Stella waved him off. "Abel, I handed it in for you and I know I have to stay with you. So, what are we going to do?" She smiled brightly, but Abel could see that her eyes flashed at the mention of her freedom restrictedness.

"I er…" Paperwork having been taken care of, Abel had o idea what to do. Fortunately, his stomach did. He blushed as it decided to add in its two cents. He covered his stomach with his arms as if to quiet it. "He…he, I don't suppose…"

"Come on, we'll get you something to eat." Stella said with a wave of her hand and a roll of her eyes.



Abel felt slightly uncomfortable with Stella watching him eat, but he tried to ignore it as he plowed down everything from eggs to pastries. Of course, what would breakfast be without his cup of tea with thirteen sugars?

As Abel started to polish off a pastry, he noticed Stella's raised eyebrows. In the entire time he had been eating, Stella had barely finished half of her Danish. "Er… something wrong?" Abel asked feebly.

Stella snapped out of her reverie gracefully and said smoothly, "oh no, I'm just preparing for the oncoming famine."

"Hey! That's not fair! I'm a growing man!" Abel spouted the first excuse that came to mind.

"Growing horizontally, perhaps." Stella smiled.

Abel sweat dropped. "How cruel." When had she learned to have such a smart mouth?

They finished brunch and went for a tour. As they walked by the open hallway to the gardens, Stella stopped. Grinning, she grabbed Abel by the hand and pulled him to a corner.

"What?"

"Shh… We are being followed." Stella smiled like a mad woman. "Stay here." Without waiting for a reply, she moved, but Abel did not see where she had gone. All he felt was a slight breeze moving past him.

A few second later he heard someone cry out. He looked around the pillar that Stella had dragged him to, to find the girl in question sitting quite primly on top of none other than Father Leon. Had Stella not have such a peeved expression on her face, Abel would have laughed at the sight.

"Teach you to follow people. Leon, Abel said that one of your rules was to be nice." She said in mock-anger.

"Sorry, Stella."

Abel did laugh at this. Come on, now, think about it. A Father getting preached to by a woman who had just that morning stated she had no intention of becoming a sister. Besides that, the generalization of basically all of the Holy Book was about and the lack of formality was too much to bear.

Stella glared at him. "Father Nightroad! I thought you had a little more silence than that!"

"Sorry… hah… hah… Miss Stella."

Stella rolled her eyes heavenward. "Did I tell you not twenty minutes ago when we were in the gardens to call me nothing but Stella? You fathers and your formalities."

Abel was about to say something when Stella turned her back to them. "Good morning, Father Tres."

Abel was impressed. How had she known that Tres was coming when he wasn't visible until two seconds after she had made her remark? She waved and went forward to talk to the android, which by now she should have fully realized did not make good conversation.

He would definitely have to learn more about this girl.

**A/N: All right, another relatively boring chapter. Don't worry the next will tantalize your mystery sense as well as tell you about Stella's past.**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: All right, since my last update was only hours ago, I have no news to bring you up on. Curse sickness.**

**Disclaimer: I do not now, nor will I ever, own Trinity Blood.**

_Bored. Bored. Very bored. _Stella sat alone at a desk watching little metal balls knock into each other. Father Nightroad had left an hour ago to attend to something concerning his report and she had been left alone with Tres. _Might as well do something useful. _She thought.

She stood up and made for the door, only to find Tres blocking her. _Great. _

"What are you doing?"

"Getting a glass of water, is that so bad?" She smiled sweetly out of habit, knowing full well it wouldn't help the situation.

Tres stared at her for a long moment before announcing her would get the 'required material'. After he had left, Stella rolled her eyes. When the android returned with the drink, she put it on the desk and once again sat on the chair. Tres, who was standing at the far wall, would not be able to see it. She doubted her would go as far as trying to see though her with his cybernetic eye.

She closed her eyed and concentrated. She tried to imagine where the water might have come from, but soon realized she couldn't. Frowning, she thought a moment before turning to Tres.

"Father, Tres? Do you have any idea where this water might have come from?"

Tres blinked. Stella guessed this was as close as he had ever come to actually looking surprised. Finally, he said, "The kitchen faucet."

Stella knew she would have to elaborate if she was going to get anywhere. "Do you know where the city gets its water?"

"Various places." Tres said shortly.

Shrugging, Stella turned around. Knowing where the water came from was not exactlynecessary, but she always had liked it. Once again she concentrated. She thought of the glaciers she had seen as a child. When she opened her eyes, the water had frozen. Sighing, she relaxed. The water went back to its original form.

That being down, Stella was at a loss of what to do. She couldn't practice more, Tres would see. Hanging her head in acceptance of boredom, she pulled one of the metal balls on the device in front of her back, and sent it flying into the next.



"Have you found anything out about the girl?"

Abel shrugged. "I know _Stella,_" he put emphasis on the name; he wanted to show the Cardinal she should at least call the girl by her name, "eats very little, of course she only might have been watching me eat. Oh! I know that she either had excellent hearing or can tell when someone new is in the vicinity. Or maybe Father Leon is just loud…"

"Are all of your findings contradictory!?" Kate snapped.

"errm… Yes?" Abel said meekly.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Cardinal Kate said in a dangerously calm voice

"Uh… telling?"

Cardinal Kate sighed and rubbed her temples, a habit she had picked up from Catharine. "Fine. Every night after Stella has gone to sleep you will report to me with something new."

"Errr…"

"Yes?" Kate looked back up at him with all the patience of a mother.

"What about the foreign country?" Abel had been wondering about that since they had first gotten on the boat.

Kate sighed heavily. "To tell you the truth, Abel, don't know. We may very well be off to another war. I'll have to talk to the Pope about it tomorrow. You are dismissed."

Abel left, deep in thought. _Another war. _He thought wearily. _No doubt I will be involved in some way or the other. I wonder what Stella will think. _He walked down the hall and into the room he left Stella and Tres in.

"Father Nightroad." Stella smiled brightly as she turned around to greet him.

She was answered with a loud growl from his stomach.

"Honestly, Father, we just had lunch three hours ago." She said rolling her eyes while putting her hands on her hips.

"My dear!" exclaimed Father Abel, shocked. "Three hours is like an eternity to this monster called a belly."

"Come on, let's go see if we can beg some food from the poor nuns an priests working in the kitchens." Stella said, still chuckling.

As she made her way to the door, Abel stopped her. "Actually, you and I need to have a talk. I suggest that while we talk, we eat." Abel smiled goofily. "We can go to my favorite restaurant. Father Tres, will you inform Father Leon that we will be along soon?"

"Affirmative." Tres left the room.



An hour later, Abel and Stella were sitting at a table in a small restaurant. Stella looked immensely uneasy as she ordered her food. After the waitress left, Abel put his fingertips together and tried to think about how to ask her about her life.

"You want to ask me about my country and my life." Stella said, looking down.

Abel was surprised. Was he really that obvious? Or was Stella unnaturally smart? He decided it was the latter. "Well… er…. I have to go to the bathroom!" Abel blurted out so loud that everyone in the restaurant felt the need to turn and stare at the pair.

Abel hurried to get up and in the process, stumbled over his own feet. He burst into the bathroom and ran some cold water. Splashing his face, he immersed himself I his thoughts. _Why am I so flustered? Am I really that afraid of the unknown? It's not like she wants me dead. She saved me and has had dozens of opportunities to kill me._

Drying his face with a rough paper towel, he went back to the dining room. Stella was holding something around her neck. As he slid into the seat, Stella didn't look up. He cleared his throat. Her eyes remained fixated on the object.

"Stella?"

Stella snapped her head up. "Sorry."

Abel waved it away. "So, what is that?"

Stella whispered, "It's my brother's necklace."

"May I see it?" Abel asked quietly as his interest grew.

Stella seemed reluctant to give it to him, but with a furtive glance around her, she unclasped it and handed it to Abel. It was an interesting piece of work. The chain was slightly heavy with links a little larger than the norm. That wasn't the interesting part. The pendant was a crude heart, the humps arched only slightly and the bottom point coming to a definitive, well, point. The heart was cut so that eight small triangles lifted to it, creating strange angles and different points of light. The gem itself was a beautiful red-golden that changed color as it shifted in Abel's fingers.

"It's beautiful. What is the stone?"

Stella shifted uncomfortably. "It is a… erm… species' blood."

Abel looked up from the gem. "And what species would that be?"

Stella bit her lip. She leaned forward conspirately. "It is… my father's and older brother's blood. And…" She froze and sat back in her seat.

"Well here you go dearies." The waitress was back.

Mentally cursing her for her timing, Abel smiled and accepted a plate from her graciously as Stella accepted a cup to steaming tea. "Thank you my dear lady."

When she had gone Abel, ignoring his food for once, leaned forward. "So, what were you going to say?"

Stella gave him a withering look. "You are not going to let this go, are you?"

"No, I suppose not." Abel smiled at her.

Stella lowered her eyes. "Long before my parents were…. born, there was a… well, for lack of better word, creature, made to kill vampires. There many of them and they were forcibly migrating or something, but one managed to get away. My father and brother were sent to kill him… but…" Stella's voice broke. Sniffling, she uttered the last few sentences out. "My father and brother and the man made a pact. They each had their necklaces filled with each other's and their own blood. But when _they_ found out…." Stella was struggling not to sob. She stood. "Father, I'm sorry, if you will excuse me…"

Stella got up hastily and, snatching back her necklace ran off through the diner and into the night. Abel rose.

"Stella!"

**A/N: Hi. So, I got out another chapter. Did everyone understand my explanation of the necklace? It you didn't I'll upload a picture to my profile. If you understand or have a pretty good mental picture yourself, please tell me not to bother.**

**Did everybody like? I'm happy to say that this story gets more reviews than any other story.**


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: Okay, it wasn't guilt this time… it was sheep boredom and the lack of having any good stories in my favorite box that have been updated lately.

**Disclaimer: Hi, quick question, if you are reading this, fully expecting what is here, then why read it at all? Just a little vampire sensibility for you.**

"Stella!" Abel called out through the cool night. He knew there was no way Stella could find her way back to the church.

He ran in the direction he had thought he had seen her go. _I have t find her. What if there are more vampires in the city? _The thought made him run faster. He heard a scream up ahead. Ignoring the fact that it had no traces of femininity in it, Abel ran towards the sound.

He was in the park. He heard angry talking up ahead. Slowing to a walk so as to not walk up on a person who might be carrying a weapon, he stopped short as he saw Stella's short form holding a large, limp one and standing across from the tall form of a vampire. They were in front of the park's central fountain. The limp form breathed heavily.

"Why!" she spat out angrily, tears still in her voice. "Why would you do that?"

A cruel laugh found its way to Abel's ears. "Why shouldn't I? He's a Terran, and he was there."

Stella crouched to the ground, letting the figure slide with her. A light glowed from her palm and Abel identified a man's face. He started forward, but stopped at the sound of Stella's voice.

"Stay where you are, Abel." She didn't look at him, not even a glance in his general direction. The light grew brighter, illuminating Stella's face. Her face was etched with hatred for a second and then, as she looked down at the man, her face seemed to soften and she whispered words into his ear. If possible, the limp figure grew limper and Abel knew that the man's life had passed.

Stella placed the man's head down gently and stood to face the vampire. "You have lowered yourself to a point where even a Terran's dog could hold his head above yours." She said, quivering hate clinging to each word.

"Huh… you think so, eh, Terran?"

"Do not mistake me for something so low!" Stella's voice seemed to take on others, and an invisible wind whipped around her face. She lifted her arms, and something dangled from her clenched hand. The vampire seemed to draw back for a moment. _The necklace! _Thought Abel.

As if sensing his fear, both Stella and the vampire turned to see him. The wind around Stella's face dwindled and fled, but the vampire took on a new air of confidence. Before Abel knew what was going on, a sword was at his throat.

"Now then, Miss. I-"

"Don't say it! Do not tarnish my family's name!" Stella said sharply.

"Fine, I'm going to kill your friend if you do not let me kill you."

Stella hesitated before speaking. "I was born for a different purpose." She said so quietly that Abel almost missed it. Then she said louder, "I'm sorry, but my death cannot come at your hands, but I will not lie to you. You will loose your life tonight. I'm sorry." She turned to Abel. "Father Nightroad, please forgive me and know what I do is because I do not want you to get hurt. You can close your eyes, if you wish."

Abel would have told her not to do what was coming next. But the flat of blade came down hard on his windpipe. She raised her arms and a thick vine of water lifted itself out of the fountain behind her. She clenched her hands, and it froze. It was a dazzling if not terrifying sight to watch a young girl manipulate the water in such a graceful way. She moved her arms in a gentle dip and the frozen water followed. The vampire loosened his hold on Abel, and he took his chance. He dove out of the way, and, quick as a viper, Stella shot her hand through the air. The vampire was dead before he hit the ground.

Stella lowered her arms. She bowed her head at the dead body before her. Abel heard her sniff and saw her hand up to wipe her eyes.

"Stella?"

Stella turned and looked surprised. "Father Nightroad? You're still here?"

"Of course I'm still here."

"I thought that you would run…" she broke off. "You didn't close your eyes, did you?" It was a statement more than a question, but, nevertheless, Abel nodded. "I'm sorry you had… to see…"

"Stella, you have nothing to be sorry for." Abel said sharply. "You did it to protect me and yourself." Stella did not meet his gaze. Abel didn't know what to do. How was he to console one who had taken a life? Abel tried to recall what Esther had done for him when she had found out he was a Crusnik, but he was appalled to find that the memory was gone.

After a long silence and an internal struggle with his memories, Abel's head snapped up at the sound of Stella's light voice. "I suppose we should be getting back. It is well past the time Cardinal Kate told me I had to be back by." Stella blushed lightly. "That is if, you will still allow me to…"

"Let's get back. I'm on thin ice as it is." Abel said suddenly, hoping to stop the flow of her question.

Stella smiled and nodded almost happily. She looked at the two corpses. "What do we do with these?"

"I'll alert the proper authorities."

As they walked back, Abel stopped a mounted police officer and told him that a Methuselah and a Terran had killed each other in the park. The man, recognizing a priest's attire and the badge Abel had flipped him didn't ask questions. Abel sighed. _Confession will be hell this week._

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. But at least you all get to rest knowing I have a healthy conscience.**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N; Okay it was a little hard to get inspiration to do this chapter because all the exciting things are yet to come**.

**Disclaimer: Don't you have something better to do than try and intimidate and sure a teenager?**

Abel woke up the next morning with a resounding headache. Groaning, he got up and dressed into his priests' habit. Pulling his hair into a ponytail, he attempted to open the door with his foot, for which he was punished with nearly cracking his already banging head on the wood floor.

He made his way down to the dining hall, where most of the nuns and priests were already seated. Father Leon and Stella hailed him from a long table.

"Good morning Father Nightroad." Stella said brightly. She had been extremely cheery since Abel had refused to condemn her the night before.

"Morning Father." Leon muttered.

"Hm?" Abel looked at him confusedly. "Is something wrong?"

Before he had a chance to answer, Stella said loudly, "He's just mad that he got beaten by a girl in a foot race! And in a dress no less!"

Abel raised an eyebrow and, chuckling to himself, sat down. "So, what's for breakfast?" He said, rubbing his hands together.

"Uh…. Probably everything for you." Stella smiled at him.

"How cruel." Abel said looking down in rejection. As his head moved down, he could have sworn he saw a fang in Stella's mouth, but when he looked up, she was already nibbling on a piece of toast.

Her eyes wandered to the clock, and, as if realizing what time it was, stood, brushing her hands and skirt off. "Well boys, I'll see you later. I've got to go see Cardinal Kate." Stella didn't seem happy to go, but she still smiled quickly and ran out of the room.



"Sit down." Cardinal Kate said in a more commanding tone than Stella had ever heard anyone use.

It was a simple command, one that Stella did readily, but she still bristled at the thought._ I'm getting too used to these bonds. Even when I was a fugitive, I had more freedom than this. _Mentally shaking herself, she smiled, but did not open her mouth. She knew that Abel had seen her fangs. _Quickening heart beat and breathing, slightly dilated pupils, trying to be more at ease than he actually is, yep, he saw. He had all the symptoms of someone who saw what they did not wish to see. Funny, it wasn't as bad last night, I really underestimated this Terran._

"So, we are thinking of going to war." Cardinal Kate said in a less formal voice.

Stella snapped out of her musings immediately. "War is poison." She said bitterly.

Kate considered her before answering. "Perhaps so, but we must stop what those troops are doing." Kate's holographic eyes softened. "Do you not remember what they did to you?"

"You will not win." Stella said, ignoring the question. The bitterness had not entirely left her voice.

Kate looked up sharply. "What?"

Stella closed her eyes, imagining the city. "The city you will first want to attack, the capital where I am from, is an impenetrable fortress. No aerial attacks can happen because Methuselah shield balls cover the entire city. Only a being of… immense power can break through that and even then, the power will have to be concentrated on a single spot. Troops are as numerous in the city as ants are in an anthill. There are alarms every fifty feet and each citizen is fiercely loyal to the capital because the capital holds their hearts in their hands. There are no underground sewers, they run through back alleys. The tower at the center of the city is attached to the castle and from the top can send huge controlled attacks. The city was made to withstand any attack. And even if you do not attack the city, the rest of the country is basically houses and tiny towns built along roads in the wilderness. Your troops will fall to guerilla warfare." Stella opened her eyes again, to find a very troubled Cardinal.

"What do you suppose we do?" Kate asked quietly. She bowed her head, completely subdued.

"Send _me _in."

"What?" Kate's head shot up. "You are just a little girl."

Stella waved an imperial hand, silencing her. She put a finger up. "One: you have no clue to my actual age. Two: no doubt Father Nightroad has told you about my…" Stella swallowed, "abilities." Even though Stella refused to elaborate, especially when Kate had the what-do-you-mean look on her face, the Cardinal nodded. "This situation does not call for an all out war, it calls for a quiet _assassination_."

Cardinal Kate's eyebrows rose. "All right, you have my full attention. How does an assassination help the situation?"

Stella swallowed, mentally yelling at herself for doing this. "There is the Emperor, he came in one day and blackmailed and threatened his way to the top. He controls a powerful ring of people, who control the nobles, who control the lower rings and so on and so forth. No on likes him, but no one has the power to bring him down physically or otherwise. When he goes down, the rest of the city will go up so to speak. Things will return to the way they were when the first fugitives left the Empire and went to the new land."

"And why should we send you?" Cardinal Kate asked, suddenly coming up with at _least _a dozen people better suited to the job."

Stella rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Oh God, here we go again. One: I have powers that no one living has seen, besides Father Nightroad, Father Leon, and Father Tres. Two: I know the city better than anyone, spending most of my life getting to know how to hide, attack, and move through the shadows."

Cardinal Kate closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Fine. You got the job."

"One more thing, though." Stella hesitated, but knew with war not far from the Cardinal's mind, hesitation was not an option. "I will need one other to come with me, in case I should fall or I need help. Know this, he or she needs to be of sound mind and body. Preferably the strongest you have to offer."

Cardinal let the words soak in for a moment before nodding. "Right then. You and Father Nightroad shall depart tomorrow."

"What!" Stella stood up, forgetting her manners completely. "Father Nightroad! No! There has to be someone else. Father Tres, perhaps? I mean, the man can barely tie his shoes without tripping over himself and he looks so weak that I think one good blow could cripple him!"

The girl's rant done, Kate spoke again. "Looks can be deceiving. Let me assure you, Father Nightroad has… abilities as well."

_So that's your game. I won't tell you my abilities, so you won't tell me his. Fine then, I'll just have to protect both of us. _"Fine."

"Will you please tell Father Nightroad of your new position?"

Stella nodded grudgingly and left the room.

The first place she chose to look for Abel was in the gardens; Father Leon had told her Abel spent a great deal of time there. She was rewarded when she saw his signature silver mane. Father Leon was with him, sitting under awning. Stella came upon the two and found them laughing.

Feeling bad about ruining the good mood, but knowing she would have to do it anyway, she cleared her throat. "Um…. Father Leon? Can I talk to Father Nightroad alone?"

Leon looked at her face and Stella knew he knew something was about to happen by the flicker in his eye. Yawning, he stretched and stood, crossing his arms behind his head, a habit Stella knew he took when he wanted to appear unattached.

"Yeah…. Whatever. I'm going to go bug people." He started walking away.

Stella waited until she was sure he had actually gone where he said he was going to go before turning back to Abel. To her surprise, he had gotten up and was now standing in front of her.

"Something's happened, hasn't it?" He asked almost sadly.

Stella nodded. "You and I are to depart to assassinate the Emperor of the country I am from." Stella looked down. "You know, father Nightroad, had you not seen my powers already I would do everything within my power to make sure you stayed behind. It's just not safe for you. So I would suggest you go beg Cardinal Kate to let me go alone." She raised her deep blue eyes to meet Abel's.

He was actually smiling! "When do we leave?"

**A/N: Okay so exciting stuff coming up! Also, the end of the of the story, don't worry, though there is a sequel for those who are interested.**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Oh, right, I'm supposed to talk to you guys. Erm…. Look over there! It's a monkey.**

**Quick important note: Stella's hair was always worn down, but it was pushed back and covered by the wimple. (The thing that goes on the head.)**

**Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Trinity. Blood. **

Abel got up early the day of their departure. He had packed a bag the night before and after he got dressed, he grabbed it and went downstairs. When he got into the Main Hall, he noticed two things. One, it was way too early for him to be up because even the nuns who did morning chores weren't up yet.

Two, there was only two people in the hall. The first was Tres, he seemed to be listening to the other's quiet talking. The 'other' was a short figure with her back to him. Her close-to-black hair went down to her mid-back in waves. In a few places, Abel could detect a strand or two of red hair, like veins. It gave the dark mass an almost alive look to it. The person was wearing black pants and a jacket modeled after his own priest's garb. Upon hearing his footsteps, the figure turned around.

"Oh, good morning, Father Nightroad."

Abel gaped. In front of him was Stella who seemed to transform overnight from a girl to a woman. The two red streaks that were always curled around her face were straight, only curling at the end as if to cup her face. She wore a white shirt under the jacket that matched the bordering on the breast pockets. Her necklace gleamed eerily against her chest.

Stella raised an eyebrow when he didn't respond. "Ooookkaaay." She turned back to Tres. "Father Tres, I'll make nightly reports to you. If you do not hear from me in eight days, then let Catherine take whatever course of action she deems necessary."

"Acceptable."

Stella turned to Abel, looking depressed. "I guess we'll be off now."

Abel nodded. Then, trying to add some humor to the moment said, "What, no breakfast."

**Wham!** Stella had thrown a very large pastry at him. "Eat while you run, we'll have to hurry if we are to get to the morning train."

"Eat while we run? My dear, I do not think you understand the meaning of a hea…"

"Ready! Set! Go!" Stella shouted as she ran through the doors.

Abel looked surprisedly at Tres, who quirked his mouth up in an almost-smile. "Perhaps Father Nightroad should get going, Stella has already had a six point seven head start."

Abel looked at him aghast. "I thought you were on my side!" he had to admit, though, the android's sense of humor had improved over the years, even if it was still a bit dry. "Hey! Wait for me!"



"Well, we're on the road again." Stella said, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"Yes, though for a traveling priest, being 'on the road' doesn't hold much significance anymore." Abel said solemnly.

"I would think that it would hold much significance to be one the road, considering it's your job." Abel saw a glint in Stella's eye and knew that she would argue whatever point he made on the topic.

"Yes, well, it does and it doesn't."

Stella surprised him by changing the subject suddenly, "Abel, where did you grow up?"

"Huh?" Abel asked unintelligently.

Stella smiled without opening her mouth. "Well, it just occurred to me that you know more about me than I know about you."

Abel blinked. He didn't know anything about this girl! More than that, he really didn't want to answer the question. "Well, I… er…. I don't know much of anything about you!" he responded a little too loudly.

Stella crossed her arms. "So we are two complete strangers about to change an entire country's fate together? Doesn't that sound a little ridiculous?" A bit of a chuckle managed to worm its way into her last sentence.

Abel thought for a moment, tapping his chin with a finger. "Yep, I guess it does!" He answered, smiling goofily.

Stella sweat dropped and grumbled, "Really Father Nightroad, you are a complete nitwit."

Abel remained grinning. "I know."



They entered the ship later that night, and Stella went unnoticed by the busy captain. They were in a slightly better room than before, and Stella guessed it was because the captain didn't know who she was. Shrugging off the unintended insult and her jacket, Stella looked around the room.

There were two green-blanketed beds and a small writing table. There was also a wardrobe where Father Nightroad had already dumped his clothes out into a messy jumble in one of the drawers. The room wasn't as cold as the other one, but it was still enough to make Stella rub her unprotected arms and pull at the turtleneck collar.

She sat around the room, bored for a few minutes, and then heard the dinner bell. She grabbed her jacket and slipped it on. When she found the table he was seated at, Abel was already making a fool out of himself, eating everything on his plate. Rolling her eyes, Stella took the seat across from him. She waved away the waitress and leaned forward to talk with her friend.

"It seems that no one has noticed me yet. That's good, at least the troops won't pay attention." Stella said quietly.

Abel, his moth filled with spaghetti, nodded a slurped it all into his mouth. When he was done, he wiped his moth daintily on a napkin and leaned forward as well. "You should eat, and then go back to the room. No reason to set off any alarms early."

Stella nodded, and grinning, swiped a roll off his own plate and left, nibbling on it.

The next few days were spent in the same way; Stella woke up each morning and found Abel shoving down his breakfast, stole something off of his plate and left for an early morning walk (in her case, run) around the deck before anyone woke up. When the breakfast-goers came ambling up from below, she would find her way to her room and sleep for a few hours until dinner. Then she would once again steal off of Abel's plate, much to his dismay and would go up on deck and run, do pull-ups on one of the many rails or would freeze water below the ship. If she felt a pair of eyes watching her, she would return to the room and continue to work out with sit-ups until Father Nightroad returned. When he asked what she was doing, she would say 'going to bed' and then do so.

She followed this pattern until, on the third night, a huge spire seemed to rise out of the wall that surrounded the city. She woke Abel immediately and they gathered their things. They were entering the country that they would change forever.

**A/N: All right we got another chapter, which, sadly only brings us closer to the end. There is a big twist coming up, can anyone guess what it is? Prepared to be shocked.**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Ummm….. I like cookies!**

**Disclaimer: If I were thinking about this in a psychological way, then I would guess that you are a really depressed person who has nothing better to do than to read I do not own Trinity Blood. Mental help is suggested.**

Abel and Stella were the first off the boat that night. Troops were at the docks. Abel shivered, knowing this wasn't normal. Stella noticed this.

"They are looking for any sign of me or anyone interested in me. In all reality, I was not supposed to be anywhere near here. The Emperor would give an arm and probably both his legs to find me. Now that he knows I might be somewhere in the city, he'll stop at nothing to find me. This makes the job only ten times harder." Stella explained, her voice void of any emotion.

"Ah… right. What do we do?" Abel asked.

Stella smiled manically at him. "We jump."

Abel eyes widened. "We what?"

"Come on!"

Abel gasped as Stella pushed him into the icy water. He floated for a few seconds, but then felt something hit him in the back of the head. He was dragged under the water and, after what seemed like hours to his dazed mind, back up. As he greedily sucked in air, he heard Stella's voice hiss in his ear.

"If you make that much noise again, I'll have to knock you out. Now, come on." Stella didn't relinquish her hold on Abel's collar until she dragged him under again.

Abel was able to keep up, if just barely, with Stella. She swam fast and it was only because of his long legs that he was anywhere close to her. She stopped by a grate and roughly pulled him up. He gasped for air.

"Abel, stay up here and keep watch." Stella said quickly before sub merging again.

Abel shook his head. _How does she do that? She's not even breathless! _He heard a slight banging beneath him. He looked down. Trying not to be disgusted by the murkiness of the water around him, Abel peered down, concentrating until he saw a large shadow on the bottom. Stella was banging on the grate with a rock. A few minutes later (far too long for Abel's taste) Stella came up again.

"Damn it!" She cursed. She turned seriously to him. "Abel, don't be afraid." She went back under.

Abel was getting extremely annoyed now. He had seen her do amazing things twice before and still she thought he would be afraid of her. Did the girl not understand friendship? _Perhaps she doesn't. Remember, you don't know anything about her life. _

There was a small light blast under the water and Abel felt his leg being pulled under. He followed Stella into the grate and found himself on a metal floor, surrounded by light. Picking himself up, he gasped at what he saw.

They were surrounded but oily green water. Stella was dropping her hands from where they were admitting the light. Abel saw they were in a small bubble, keeping out the water.

Abel breathed out a sigh. "Whew. I know I'm glad not to be in that water."

"The water isn't why we are in here." Stella said, not looking at him. Abel followed her gaze to the side of the water.

Suddenly, it seemed teeth came out of nowhere at them. They were sent flying backwards, but as Stella braced herself against the metal floor, they stopped. Abel gaped up at the giant mouth of teeth.

"What, never seen a shark before Father?" Stella said tauntingly. When he did not respond she crossed her arms and said in an annoyed voice, "if you want to get sick, then by all means keep your mouth the way it is. My bubble can protect against sharks, but it cannot do anything about microscopic bacteria."

Abel promptly closed his mouth. "So… what do we do now?"

Stella eyed the three sharks that circled around their bubble. "These are the Guard Sharks. They are trained to attack and eat anything in here that is bigger than a squirrel." A sad look entered her eyes. "It would be a waste to just… kill them for doing their duty."

Abel tried to listen as Stella muttered something to herself about negative and positive energies creating a current. As another shark quickly tries to take a bite out of their bubble, Stella's hand shot out and the bubble crackled. The shark sped away.

"Yes!" Stella smiled happily with the results.

"Um… Stella?" Abel tugged nervously at his collar. "Isn't it getting a bit warm in here?"

A strange look crossed Stella's face before fear flashed in her eyes. "We have to get out of here!" She practically yelled.

She ran to another wall, the bubble and Abel following her movements. As she searched along the bottom almost frantically, Abel realized the air was getting thin. Luckily, it was not long before she found a grate. She had a look of complete concentration before the water around the bars of the grate froze and destroyed the metal poles.

"Take a deep breath, Abel and follow me!"

With that, Stella dove out of the bubble and through the grate. Abel did as she told him, resisting the urge to pray to God to save them. He dove through the bubble and found himself in more water. Panicking, he opened his mouth to yell out, but saw Stella moments before he broke the top. As he gasped for air, Stella slapped a hand over his mouth. She put a finger to her lips and motioned for him to follow her.

The infernal girl had him swim what seemed a mile before allowing him to stop. Even when they did, Stella told him not to talk.

"We are in the city's main water supply, there is an opening up ahead." Stella looked at him for the first time in pity. "Can you make it, Abel?"

Abel nodded ferociously. "I will." He remembered how much his words sounded like hers.

The swim wasn't as far as Abel thought it to be, and Soon Stella helped him over a six-foot wall to the other side. When they were finally on the cobblestone alleyway Stella looked up to the sky.

"I can't believe it." She said in an almost-dreamlike whisper. "We've actually snuck into the city of Daraloone."

**A/N: short chapter, but I promised some people I would have it out tonight. Not one guess to the big twist. I'm disappointed.**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: All right, I don't know what you people want from me! Just read the story I worked so hard on!**

**Disclaimer: How's that therapy session going?**

Abel nodded his head to Stella's statement. She beamed at him, and then, after a good look at his face, started laughing. Abel pouted.

"Uh… Stella? We've just invaded a strange country I don't even know the name of which is filled with troops that want to kill us, through an irrigation system filled with sharks to assassinate the Emperor! I really don't think this is the time to be laughing."

Stella, barely able to over come her laughter, pointed to the water "L…. look in the water." She covered her mouth in an attempt to stem the giggles.

Abel, still pouting did as he was bid. When he looked in the crystal clear water he saw a small pink squid on his cheek. Shrieking, he ran around in a panic, swiping it and yelling for someone to get it off. Stella let him do his little freak out for a few seconds before lazily reaching out and grabbing the squid by its head. Abel, who was still running, did not realize this until he felt the uncomfortable pull of the squid's suckers.

"Owwwww!!!!!" Abel cried out.

Stella giggled. "You realize that you are still in a country you don't even know the name of which is…."

"Yeah, yeah. What are we going to do now?" Abel said, waving his hand and trying to get away from the subject.

"We're going to my old apartment. You'd better keep up this time." With that, Stella started silently sprinting down the alleyways.

Repressing the urge to call out to her, Abel followed. They ran down a few blocks and into an alley that was so narrow, that Abel's shoulders would brush the sides if her moved an inch to his left or right. Stella brought him to the end, which opened up to a road. Looking around furtively, Stella suddenly jumped into the air. She didn't come back down. Abel looked up to see her glaring down at him.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. "The guards are coming!"

Abel hastily made his way up the tree, only to be pulled through a narrow window seconds before the sound of clattering armor reached his ears. As he was thrown back into the gloom, Stella looked out the window in disgust as the troops went by, devoid of any concern for a woman who was struggling in the street, whose wares were promptly trampled.

"Vile despicable…." Stella went on and on for minutes of exactly what she thought of them. When she had finally quieted down, Abel deemed it safe to ask her what they were to do next. "Stella motioned to a lump in the corner. "We sleep. We have a big day tomorrow, both of us. You can have the bed." She went to a corner that had a conveniently placed blanket.

Abel went to the bed, but found it two feet shorted than his tall frame. Not one to complain, he slumped down onto it and curled up, not bothering with his wet clothes, for the apartment had an almost uncomfortable warmth to it.



Abel came out of sleep reluctantly. He heard small whimpers and tried to ignore them, but as they grew louder, he knew he had to help whatever helpless creature God had graced his doorstep with. Opening his bleary eyes, he found that he was not in his bed back at the church, but a harder thing in a tiny, cell-like room. Then it all came back to him. He was in Stella's apartment, sleeping on her bed. And Stella was sleeping on the-

Not, it was more like writhing.

Abel jumped up and found himself unable to do anything. Stella was either having a seizure or a very bad nightmare. She thrashed about, hitting him several times. She whimpered and tears flew freely down her cheeks. Suddenly, as violently as she moved, she sat still. Then she began talking.

"No…. Father…." She moaned.

"I'm here." Abel said softly, thinking she was talking about him.

"Mother….Lia, stop!" Stella shook again, but only for a moment. "Demetry…. Please…" Stella seemed to choke for a minute. "Please let me help you! Let me save you…"

Abel swallowed. This poor girl was more vulnerable now than he had ever seen her, even when injured within an inch of her life. She continued to call out for Demetry so pitifully that Abel thought if she woke up right then he would do anything she asked of him. Finally after a half hour of sobbing and choking, Stella gave a piercing scream and woke up panting.

Putting a hand to her heart to regulate her heartbeat she looked at him. "F…Father Nightroad."

He looked down gently at her. "Are you all right?" He asked softly.

Stella pressed her lips together and her hand flew up to her necklace, which glowed strangely. "Yes…. No."

"Would you like to talk about."

"I…. can't. Get back to sleep."

"Here." Abel said putting out a hand. Stella took it numbly. He lead her over carefully to the 'bed', as if she would break and made sure she was tucked in before going to the abandoned blanket in the corner.

A few minutes passed before the nearly dozing Abel heard a faint, "Father Nightroad?"

"Hmm?" Stella had his full attention.

"Did I…. did I say anything in my sleep?" Stella wasn't looking at him but the curiously yellowed ceiling.

"Hmmm? Yes, you did. Yyou called out to your parents, and someone named uh… Lea?"

"Lia." Stella corrected sadly, adding so quietly that if Abel had not been a Crusnick, he would not have heard it, "my sister."

Abel continued on, ignoring the piece of information that seemed to pain his companion. "And you were begging Demetry to let you save him."

"Demetry…" Abel could imagine the tears in Stella's eyes.

"Stella?" Abel hesitated.

"You deserve to hear the whole story, Abel. Before we go into this. At least then, maybe, you can tell the world that not all Titans are bad."

**A/N: Okay, I'm sorry faithful reviewers and loyal readers. I tried to get this in by the end of the day, but I am 21 minutes off. This is the first time since the beginning that I have not updated daily. Anywho, review! Don't you want to know who and what Stella is?**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: I'm baaacck!**

**Disclaimer: You people are really sick. I mean really sick to remind me about what I don't have. You are the kind of people who would overfeed a fish to watch it pop. Sickos.**

I was born in a laboratory, as did my mother, father, brother and sister. I was the second born. I was born with markings all over my body and for them, my mother named me Stella.

We lived a normal life. Or as normal as you can get living in a cell for the first five years of your life. I was completely content, not knowing the outside world. The only thing I ever asked for was a last name. _They_ would not give me one, saying I did not earn it. My Father sometimes went through the only door and would come back sad, but he said that the smiles on his children's faces made him happy once again. For this reason, I smiled all the time.

My brother loved me. He would play with me and teach me things that Mother and Father couldn't. He would protect me when they came to get me and would always end up hurting in the end. We had a special bond that never broke. We loved each other unlike they said they loved us and even more than our parents did. We sang the slaves' song, and when we did, it was almost as if Mother didn't understand us. The first verse is all I can remember now.

_Feel the crack of the whip on my shoulder_

_Ignore the sweat going down my brow_

_Pay our heed no mind_

_We can hear our people cry_

_But for now._

_Deliver us! Deliver us!_

_To the promise land!_

My sister, Lysistrata, was born when I was five. _They_ said it was because the 'last one' was such a disappointment. Mother and Father tried to tell me otherwise, but I knew. I knew that there wasn't something right with me. Lia was born and when Demetry and I were allowed in to see her, I smelled something bad. It wasn't waste or even blood. It was something else. It made my hair stand on end. Demetry said he felt it too. My mother looked sadly at her baby when we told her, but said nothing.

As the child grew, her dark hair turned white as did her pupils. She was tested more than any of us, and I admired her for that. For her bravery of being stuck with needles at least four times a day. When she was five, Demetry and I would play with her, but when she held the dolls we made for her, no love came. She bit their heads off. She would spend hours playing with the plastic figurines _they _gave her. Demetry and I refused to even pick them up. But she would set them up for hours on end, and then, she would destroy them. She would stomp on them and find a way to lift earth and water even though none was allowed in the room.

One day, when I was ten, _they _came again and brought Mother in chains. She returned unconscious later. Father was next, and he did not come back in any better condition. When _they_ came for Demetry, and me he fought harder than I had ever seen him fight, and this was the first time he was in a panic. _They_ beat him senseless and dragged me away. _They_ ran some tests and I pretended to be unconscious. I heard them talking.

"Look how weak she is. She fell asleep under half the amount of anesthesia she should have." One said.

"She is worthless." Said the older one.

"She'll be used on the front lines, just like we always planned."

That is when I realized, that I was born to die. I was born to die protecting my little sister. They brought me back and brought Demetry in. That is when I decided that I would perfect my skills.

I did, in secret, which was hard because there were cameras everywhere. I did it until my powers could beat Lia's, but I never tested them out. My brother saw me once and helped me. One day, he took me aside and nothing was ever the same.

He sat me down in my bed and sat in his. I fiddled with the white blanket until he spoke.

"Stella, you know, I'm going out with Dad to do some… work tomorrow. I want you to be strong, and if I don't come back, I want you to remember that I am finally free."

"Will you come back for me?" I asked with all the innocence in my ten-year-old heart.

"I'm not sure I can do that, but I will try." He told me.

The next day he did as he promised and left with Father. He came back tired and ignored me for the first time in my life when I asked what the red spot on his collar was. He continued to leave with Father, and it would always be the same.

One night, I heard men's talking while everyone, even Father, was asleep. I crept out of bed and touched the door with my yellow glow. No one knew I could do this, except Demetry.

"We will send them out tomorrow." They said. "One of the Crusnicks have been unleashed into our city. We must destroy it."

I woke everyone and told them what was happening, and then Father did the unthinkable. He opened the door. He led us all out in nothing but our nightclothes into the streets. He told me it was a game of tag, and that if we got caught, we would go back into the lab forever. Me, I loved my new freedom and did everything I could with it.

Over the next year, we were fugitives and were on the run. I saw the glaciers of the north and tropical fish in the south. I learned more about the outside world in that year than most Terrans do in their entire lives.

Then one day, we were found. We didn't know it, but Lia had told on us. She never wanted to be out, she wanted to do everything exactly to _their_ wishes. We were captured, beaten and put back in our lab that I called a prison after the freedom. We were told that the only way we could make up for running away was that Father and Demetry had to go and hunt the Crusnick.

They left, but when they returned, I noticed something was not quite right. Demetry clutched his necklace all the time and it had turned from golden to red. Father's too. Finally, they told me what happened when they learned the truth about all of our fates.

They had made a pact with the Crusnick. Both Titans and the Crusnick put their blood into each other's necklace. The pact involved the entire family. If anyone from the Crusnick's or our family held the necklace and needed help, it would come. _That_ is why the vampires all listen when I talk. The Crusnick and I hold power over them. We would know who gets the necklace by the way the energy moves around the person.

My Father and brother both said that on that night we were all going to die except Lia. Lia would be the only one to live because she was still useful. We were all soft and loved freedom.

When the man with the needle came, we ran. We ran to the top of the tower, because there was nowhere else to go. Father paced, wondering what to do next when Lia came, floating up through the ground like some sort of ghost.

She smiled raised her hand, and clenched it. Mother screamed and died seconds later without any blood on the floor. Father, by now far into his maddened state, attacked his daughter. She finished him off a few seconds later. As the blood began to creep towards me, Demetry told me not to look, but I did.

Demetry was far faster than Father and was able to knock her to the ground a few times before he drew him sword. She tries to plead with him, sniveling like the five year old she was but wasn't. He pierced her heart, but somehow she still lived. When Demetry went to check on me, she attacked. The sword stopped inches from my nose.

Something in me snapped. I screamed and realized that this was my maddened state. I raised the ground around her and choked her lungs with water, but I didn't let her die. I used my light, a once pure thing, to bring down the storm. I can't remember how, but I did it. The wind blew off the roof. And I called down the lightening. I had it course through her, slowly leeching the life away. As I killed her, she smiled at me.

"You are not the weak one." She said and then she died.

I turned back to my brother, who was sitting on death's doorstep. He handed me something, but I threw it away and hugged him. I told him to let me save him, I knew I could, but he shook his head.

"To do so would put your life in danger. Go now, I want you to pick up the necklace and leave here."

I picked up the necklace but turned back to him. "I don't want you to die alone." I said.

"Everyone dies alone whether it is a peasant on his deathbed surrounded by friends or a prince in a cave." He told me. "Leave here, Stella. And don't forget to deliver us to the promise land." He smiled and shuddered as he pushed me away.

My sister was named Lysistrata. It means Army killer. And that she did. She killed the army of Titans who were able to bring the vampiaraic and Crusinick world to their knees without killing or hurting anyone.

I ran, leaving my beloved brother behind. I ran out into the streets, but everyone knew what I did. _They_ pointed to me and told me they had given me a last name. They wanted to give me a name to brand me; to show the world that I was a cold-blooded killer. For that reason, I was named IceHeart.

**A/N: I felt bad, so here you go! Two chapter and it is not even 6 o'clock. **


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: How do you like that? Three chapters in one day!**

**Disclaimer: If you don't sue me for this, I won't sue you for the fish.**

Abel didn't know what to say. What could he say? Sorry your sister killed your family? Sorry you were born a monster? No, those didn't even scratch the surface.

"Father Nightroad?" Stella turned over in bed and gazed at him fearfully. "Father Nightroad, if you want to stay here tomorrow, it will be all right."

Abel didn't feel the annoyance he did before because he knew what was going on with Stella. He knew how it felt to not want to get attached, to stay as far away as possible. He knew that the only time Stella had ever received friendship was from her brother, and he was gone.

"Stella, I'm coming with you. I'm your friend." Abel stated firmly.

The girl's eyes shone for a moment, and then she turned over. "Thank you."



Abel awoke to Stella shaking him. A thick braid hung over her shoulder as she quietly repeated his name until he woke up. When he did, she smiled faintly.

"Good morning, Father Nightroad, I hope you enjoyed what sleep you could." She said, a fake smile on her face.

She helped him up. Abel straightened himself out and found Stella had let him sleep rather late.

"What are we still doing here?" He asked, surprised.

Stella's smile shrank until it looks like nothing more than a grim upside-down frown. "There is no way we will surprise the Emperor, he is one of _them_ and will know the instant I am within fifty feet of him. We will take our time and get as close to the castle as possible as," she linked her arm to his, "a pair."

"A… a pair?" Abel said nervously.

Stella pulled her arm away and glared at him. "Not like that. Sorry, Father Nightroad, but you're not my type." She put her arm out to him.

Abel linked his arm with hers and grinned sheepishly. "Eh… hehe."

They walked down the steps like normal humans and out onto the street they walked just like everyone else. When the troops came by, Stella would surreptitiously push Abel over so the troops could pass. She would glare and Abel kept his voice impassive as they received mixed looks from the men.

"So… erm…." They had been walking for the past hour and a half and they would talk whenever they were going through a large group of people to make the illusion that they were together seem real. As they came up to the people, Abel asked, "What is your type?"

Stella gave a quiet chuckle. "I suppose the no one type. I mean, its not like I can avoid trouble and everyone I'm with is in danger." She flashed a quick look in his direction. "Even you. You have to remember…."

"Yes, yes, I know. _Be careful_." Abel waved her doubt aside with his hand. _Now this is odd, that is usually what I'm telling my partners. Hm… I wonder if I'm this annoying._

"It is either that or the indestructible type." Stella's chuckle became a silly laugh. "Well, your not that type, are you, Father Nightroad?" She asked, referring to his usual clumsiness.

_If only she knew._ Thought Abel reverently. At that moment, his feet decided to find the only rock in the entire clean road and stumble over it. Gasping, Stella pulled him up before his hands could even touch the ground. She hauled him over to the side of the road just in time. The troops passed by without a glance in their direction.

"No, Father Nightroad, you are definitely not that type." She gasped.

_If only she knew._

(A/N: I could be a real bitch and end the chapter here like I wanted to, but I won't knowing that my faithful reviewers will jump down my throat.)



They stepped through the quieting streets as they entered the upper ring. A wall separated the upper part of society from the lower. The houses here were shaped and colored the same way as the lower ring, but the houses were in better repair and their colors were newer as if they had recently gotten paint jobs.

Stella stopped by a house after they had walked a mile beyond the gate. She stared at the house, a red brick house with many garden ornaments for a few minutes.

"Abel, I have some personal affairs to take care of so that no one tries to reclaim the Emperor's throne. Stay here if you want, or come in. Just stay quiet and don't look suspicious." Stella said as she walked up the three steps to the porch.

She knocked on the door. When no one answer she pounded and Abel could have sworn he heard wood splinter.

"All right! All right! I'm coming!" an angry voice yelled from inside. A man stepped out a few seconds later. The door opened and a man poked his head indignantly out. White frazzled hair stood out form the sides of his head. "What to you want?" He spat.

"Hello, Harrison." Stella said coolly.

The man's eyes widened. "St… Stella IceHeart?" He gasped.

"Let us in, Harrison." Stella commanded.

The man stood dumbly aside and Stella brushed past him. Abel, confused, followed her lead. Stella showed herself to a red couch. Abel sat next to her as Harrison took a seat across from them on the slightly faded couch that was across from them. Abel took in the room's state. It was neat down to the tiniest detail, and seemed to remain dirty. Everything was meticulously in its place and Abel could not detect a speck of dust or dirt. Still, there was a yellow to the room that was a sign of years of smoking, and something didn't feel right.

"No tea for your guests, Harrison? My, you haven't changed a bit. You always were rude." Stella's voice was calm, like that of an old friend catching up.

Harrison hurried to make tea. Abel and Stella sat in uncomfortable silence; at least it was for Abel. The trembling man set the tea on the table before them and took his position on the couch. Stella picked up her cup and raised it to her lips, but Abel noticed that she did not drink any of it. Putting it down, she smiled, cat-like at the man.

"You know why we're here, of course?"

"I know why you're here." Harrison pointed at Stella. "I'm not sure about him."

"Good. I hate you, Harrison, for what you did to my family. Are you the only one left?" Stella swung from one sentence to the other with amazing grace.

"Besides the High and Mighty one, then yes, I'm the only one left." The man answered in a gruff voice.

"Oh, you did not know that Daraloone would betray you? Why, his name itself should have explained it to you that none of you were going to get off." Stella's voice was laden with amusement. She chuckled. "The rest were too ambitious for him to let live. You, though…. 'stick them with needles' 'yes sir' 'kill them' yes sir' 'take away the girl's humanity' 'of course sir'." Stella imitated a commander and Harrison's voice rather well. Stella suddenly turned businesslike. "Well…" She said, clapping her hands together and standing, "you are lucky that I am busy, or you would have suffered."

With all the speed and lethalness of a cobra, Stella's hand cut through the air. A sharpened ice stake from all three teacups buried itself it Harrison's chest.

"Let's go, Father Nightroad." Stella said, her eyes filled with sadness.

**A/N: Likee? No likee? Hell, you had better like it, this is my third chapter today!**


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: No guesses at what The Big Twist is, huh? Man, you guys have no imagination.**

**Disclaimer: Fish Murderer!**

Stella felt disgusted at what she just did, but it was necessary and she was quiet. She strode the streets, knowing that the troops were not a trouble for another hour because it was time for them to eat. She ran through the streets in silence for a few minutes before stopping to allow Abel to catch his breath.

"We have to make it to the castle in the next few minutes." Stella said. I know you're tired, but…"

"But nothing. We have to go and I'll move fast." Abel interrupted.

Stella could tell that he was upset about something, but she figured that it was what she did back at the Harrison house. She let it be and began to run again. He heart lifted at the sight of the castle. There were no walls, and barely any guard. This would be easy until they got last few legs of their mission.

Stella slit the throats of a few of the guards, hid them and pushed Abel into a small servant's entrance. The servants were all serving the guards and would be gone for the next hour taking care of evening chores. Abel caught his breath and looked at a wall, stone-faced. He sat down quietly on a large, over-turned bucket. Stella felt extremely guilty.

"Abel…" she started.

"Don't ask me to stay behind, Stella." Abel said sharply.

"Abel, I wasn't going to do that, I know you can handle seeing someone killed, but can you… handle killing? I mean, you're facing mental scaration for life. You're just an innocent priest, and I don't want you to get hurt mentally or physically."

"I am nowhere near innocent." Abel muttered darkly.

If she wasn't a Titan or even if she had not told Abel about her uniqueness, she would have let it go. but things being as they were, Stella looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?"

Abel looked at her nervously and sweat dropped. He turned from serious to the old, clumsy, scatter-brained priest in seconds. "Eh? Er… nothing." He rubbed the back of his head and grinned goofily.

Stella, not quite believing him, rolled her eyes anyway and said, "All right then, we're going to be off in an hour, you can rest until then."

"Hm? Why are we waiting so long, shouldn't we get this over with as soon as possible?"

"Because we are going up," Stella jerked her thumb upwards, "and in an hour, all the servants, who are trained first as guards, will be coming down. In his old age, the Emperor has become lax in his safety and has ordered for everyone to be below or on the second floor after a certain time. We will sneak out then and no one will be any the wiser once we get to the third floor." Stella started rummaging around. Finding what she wanted, she flung a few apples at Abel. (One hit him in the head and knocked him off the over-turned bucket.) "Eat. You need energy and the sooner you eat, the sooner your body can convert that into energy. With a metabolism like yours, you should be good after a few apples."

They ate the apples in silence. Later, Stella heard footsteps and pulled Abel out of the room and behind a column. She watched carefully to see where two servants came from. When they had disappeared behind the servant's quarter's doors, she rushed Abel up the steps and hid behind yet another column.

They continued like this until Stella recognized the place that was two stories from the top, which was the Emperor's own quarters. She felt her heart clench. Somewhere, around here, she was born and raised and had lived all her happy times. _No, I've had fun since I met Father Abel. _She thought, realizing that the past week or so was the first time she had been truly happy since she was ten.

She went through the halls from memory now, walking through winding corridors (for they were well within the tower now) and up short flights of steps. She felt the presence of perhaps ten or so men ahead and inwardly groaned. They were strong men, all agile and quick. Besides that, there was hardly any earth to work with and absolutely no water. It would have to be fists, then.

"Abel, there are men around this next bend." She whispered, stooping him. "You must be careful, they are fast and dangerous and…" She felt ahead again, "… all of them are Methuselah. I'll try to reason with them, but they are between us and the only flight of steps that leads to this country's liberation. I'll do what I must and you do the same. Be careful."

He nodded, but looked confused. "Why don't you just show them your necklace?" He asked.

Stella sighed, dreading the answer that she knew she would have to give him eventually. "As the years have gone on, the vampires have forgotten about the pact or have just thought that they are more powerful than a pact made in Crusnick's and Titan's blood. However wrong they may be, every passing generation is more and more arrogant. I'm afraid that most ahead are rather young." She bravely started walking forward again.

When they turned a corner, one of the vampires stepped forward. Stella could practically hear the saliva in his mouth as he looked at them. "Finally, some Terran fools." He slavered. "Won't be a good fight, but it'll be a good feast."

"Don't mistake me for a Terran." Stella said dangerously. She held out her necklace as it glinted in the candlelight. There were some whispers and more than one face looked hesitant, but Stella knew that it would wear off.

"Stop your whispering! Can't you see, there are only two?! Besides, the girl can't very well protect her friend, can she?" the lead vampire snarled again.

_So much for reasoning. _Thought Stella as she pulled forth a silver dagger. She cut the first three's abdomens and with a defeated sigh, readied herself for battle.

Five rushed her at once. Stella slashed the first tow and they fell behind her with a thunk. She jumped, landed on the next one's head and pushed off. The man's neck snapped. Without looking behind her, she slashed the last tow throats. Both died, but the other three were getting up. As they recovered, Stella glanced around for Abel.

He was fighting off four, shooting at them. His bullets were slowing them down, being silver as they were, but he would soon run out. To Stella's horror, the last vampire snuck up behind Abel, pulling him by his hair and putting his own gun to his head.

One of Stella's vampires tackled her to the ground. She could have easily thrown him off, but was worried for her friend's safety. The one holding Abel yelled out a curt order, and Stella's arms were pinned behind her back. She was hauled to her feet and glared at everyone in the room. _Damn it, Abel! I could have handled them all. If you would just get away from that guy, they'll all be dead in seconds. _She thought vehemently.

The rest of the vampires stood. Four did not get up. The lead vampire handed Abel off to another. He stepped over to Stella and cupped her face in his hand. She pulled away and spat in his face.

An unamused glare met her when she looked back. The vampire wiped the saliva off his face. "Hmmm, four of us are dead. Three by you and one by your friend." He moved his head down and whispered, so that his breath tickled her ear. "You will die and your Terran friend will be sold as a slave. Resist and he dies."

Without another word, the dagger that had been dropped to the floor was brought up and plunged into Stella's chest. The room spun. The last thing Stella heard as she dropped to the floor was….

"_Crusnick nanomachines: forty percent. Accepted."_

**A/N: well, we all know what is going to happen next, Abel's gonna kick their…**

**Abel: warningly Songsiren….**

**Me: All right. Anyway, guess what the twist is, it'll be in the next chapter.**

**Stella: Hey! What about me!**

**Me: Bye! Runs away **


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N: No guesses, huh? Oh well, big Twist in this chapter. It's not that exciting, get over it.**

**Abel looks like this in one of the first episodes, the one with the contact telepath.**

**Disclaimer: You people are the soul-crushing straight-ties that would hit hippies with a stick.**

Crusnick 02 nanomachines forty percent: accepted 

Abel's eyes bled red as he floated into the air. He drew the dead vampire's blood to him. His scythe moved out wildly as he slashed at five of the vampire's heads and bodies. The last vampire, the lead one, crumpled before him. His eyes were as glazed as those dead.

"So you are the Crusnick?" He asked.

"Yes." Came Abel's rough voice. "Die." With that, the vampire's head rolled on the floor.

Abel changed back and sprinted across the floor hoping impossibly that there was something that he could do for his friend. Stella's face had paled considerably, but she was holding onto life. She coughed a few times and looked up at Abel with glassy eyes.

"So you are a Crusnick, a vampire that drinks other vampire's blood?" She asked weakly.

Abel nodded numbly. "Yes, I'm-"

"If you say you are sorry, I'm going to beat you to a pulp." Stella hissed fiercely, though her eyes and smile betrayed compassion and sympathy that showed she knew exactly what he was going through. She coughed again. "Abel, I can't use my powers on myself. The only things that can save me are another's powers or immediate medical attention that is faster than what we have in this day and age. I'm not going to get the latter and I'm guessing that Crusnicks don't…." she trailed off. Abel knew she knew that it was improbable, but her voice betrayed a faint glimmer of hope.

Abel shook his head. "No, I'm-"

"If you say it, I'm coming up there!" She said from her spot on the floor. Abel smiled sheepishly, but looked down at her with sad eyes. Stella looked at her bleeding chest and sighed miserably. "He didn't hit my heart, but he did hit something else, I'm not sure what, though. I'll fall into painful unconsciousness for a few hours and then I will die. Abel, please free this country… please…." Stella closed her eyes and stayed true to her promise.

Even though he was a priest and mourned all loss of life, Abel couldn't help but feel sickly guilty about this. He had grown close to the girl in the past few days and knew… if he hadn't gotten caught… if he had used his powers… if he had escaped…. if he had done something…

"Stella!" Abel buried his face in his hands.

He stayed that way as he heard a grating noise behind him. He heard boots walking down steps and stayed in the same position. The footsteps stopped a few feet away from him. He heard a strong voice speak to him gently.

"Look, sir, I know you are upset about your friend, and the last thing you need is me, but I've been sent to kill you. I have to do as I am ordered, even if I don't want to. I'm sorry."

Abel turned around, his voice quivering with rage, his eyes on the floor and his glasses glinting in the candlelight. "No you're not. If you were sorry you would not be doing this. Look at this!" Abel waved a hand in Stella's direction. "Your people did this! This girl lived a tortured life, and now, when she finally has a chance to change that, you people steal it away from her to be in pain. And you want to tell me _you're_ sorry!" Abel twirled around and fell to his knees again, having every intention of killing the man when he got close enough.

The man started walking forward again. "Look, I'm sure her life was tortured and so was yours, but sir, you have broken numerous laws. I have no choice over my fate and neither do you. I have to do what I must. If it is any consolation, I wish both you and that girl had succeeded in your venture." Abel heard a knife switch into place. "Now, please, stay still, I'll make it so it won'… Stella?" The man fell to the floor, knife forgotten, just as Abel was about to jump up.

The man's trembling fingers reached out to touch the unconscious girl, but Abel brushed them away. "Stay away from her." He hissed. "Have you not done enough?"

"You… don't understand!" The man said quickly.

"I understand!" Abel said angrily. "I understand that you are one of the scientists that made Stella's life a living hell!" He jumped up.

For the first time he got a good look at the man he was ready to kill. He looked young, probably in his early twenties. His face was slightly angled, and completely blemish free. His mouth, slightly opened, revealed slight fangs. Brown-black curls ran over his ears and around his face in an untamable ruff. His dark suit completed the air of everything being dark. In fact, the only thing that didn't seem dark about this man-boy was his shining dark-blue eyes, which seemed to have tears in them as they gazed at Abel pleadingly.

"Please…" his voice nearly broke.

"What?" snarled Abel, who resisted the very un-priest like act of kicking the man, who seemed so downtrodden.

The man seemed to know this as he hung his head in shame. "It has been…" then man sucked in a breath and held it, before letting his breath out, "decades, since I last saw that face, and last time, it was so… so much… younger, and scared. For me." The man gave a half-hysterical chuckle as he raised his eyes to Abel's. Abel thought for a moment that the man had gone insane. "You know, I just didn't recognize her until I saw the hair? Shameful, after all the years of seeing her, of waking up to her smiling face, and all I can recognize is her _hair_." His fanatical gaze dropped to the floor again. "I wonder what she would think of me now, serving the head torturer and killing people for a living."

"Don't worry." Abel said coldly, not trusting this man even more than when he had first came into the room talking about killing them. "You shan't be in your misery for long." He pulled out his extra gun and pointed it to his head.

"Wait!" The man's head snapped up. "Please… listen to me!"

Abel's eyes narrowed out of suspicion and hate. "You have five seconds."

"You can't kill me! She would be so upset with you…. I mean…" The man seemed to start to talk to himself. "She would, wouldn't she? I mean, she couldn't have changed that much over a few decades…"

"All right I think you are seriously mentally ill and are dangerous to everyone around you." Abel readied his gun and put his finger on the trigger.

"Wait! I'm her brother!" The man shouted.

**A/N: Duh. Duh. Duh. Bet you didn't see that coming. And if you did, lie! Sorry, I'm not too good at short fight scenes when the person dies within seconds. It you are having trouble thinking about the man's face, it is kind of like Diterich's only diffrent hair and eyes. **


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hmmm…. Oh, yeah! I LIKE COOKIES!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN TRINTIY BLOOD.**

"Liar." Abel said with disgust. "Demetry's dead."

"No I'm not!" the man said indignantly. Then gentler he said, " Stella did see me die, that is true, in a way. As if dieing isn't enough, the scientists who created us made it so that we would stay in between life and death in unconsciousness for hours. It is painful and is meant to be our final punishment." The man said this quickly, and then sucked in some breath. "The scientists found our bodies, except Stella's a long time after we had all fallen. Nothing could be saved of my mother, father, and sister, so they took me. Now I have to protect one of the worst people in the world and wait for him to die of old age." The man's blue eyes hardened.

Abel refused to think that this man was Demetry until he heard it from Stella's mouth. _Hmm… _"All right, if you are truly Stella's brother, then help her." He said, knowing that this was the only way without Stella's direct help to know for sure whether or not this man was who he said he was.

He shrugged. "Okay, I hope this works. Hmm… what was it she said to do? Oh yeah…" He put his hand on Stella's wound.

A small light exploded from his hand and Abel held his breath for a second. Stella's eyelids moved and she grimaced. Groaning, she opened her eyes and lifted herself. She blinked a few times and looked at the man sitting over her. When she saw Abel she cursed.

"Damnit, Abel. How long did you last after I died?"

Abel let out a laugh. "You're not dead, and neither am I."

"Then how…" she looked up questioningly at the man.

The man smiled at her. "The scientists salvaged me right after they gave up searching for you."

Stella looked happier than Abel had ever seen her. "Demetry!" She threw her arms around him and nearly knocked him over.

Demetry smiled gently and patted her head. He whispered something to her, and she whispered back. Abel stepped a few feet away to give the siblings privacy. Stella was crying and Demetry suddenly jumped up and spun Stella around.

Stella stopped him and ran over to Abel. She hugged him, or his waist, rather, because of his tallness and her shortness. "Thank you so much Father Nightroad."

Abel smiled down at her confusedly. "For what?"

Stella beamed back. "You were partly responsible for this. I mean, if you never saved me that day in the alley, then I would have never gone to kill the Emperor and I would never have seen my brother again."

"It was nothing." Abel gave her his best scatter-brained priest look.

Demetry came forward and put out a hand to Abel. "Well… um, Mr. Father Nightroad, I'm guessing that you don't want to blow my brains out?" Stella drew back and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Uh ha… ha… sorry about that, I had to, you know…." Abel shook the offered hand.

"Yeah, I'm glad my sister has been in such capable hands." He broke off the shaking. "Now we have to decide what to do next."

Stella sighed heavily. "I'm guessing that you can't…"

"No." Demetry interrupted. "I can't get within ten feet of him. And he has a sort of alarm on his heart so that when it stops, the entire city is thrown into chaos." He sighed, and then looked up at Abel. "You know, Mr. Father Nightroad, I'm not one to send my baby sister into a dangerous fight, so I want you to protect her."

Abel was about to respond when Stella cut in. "Baby sister! What do you mean baby sister? I've been fighting for every meal, escaping guards, and killing people for decades and yet you call me baby sister!" She was up in Demetry's face now, and Abel made a mental note to never make her angry, but something caught his attention.

"Decades? Just how old are you guys anyway?"

The siblings ceased their fighting. Stella looked at the ground guiltily and Demetry scratched the back of his head and avoided any direct eye contact

"Well… er… how much did Stella tell you about Titans?"

"She told me that they were designed to hunt and kill Crusnicks…"

"Wrong. Only my father and myself were designed to do that. My mother was designed to bear children, and Stella…" Demetry hesitated on the sensitive subject.

"I was born to be tested for dexterity, endurance, stamina, strength, speed and so on and live out my usefulness protecting the youngest Titan sibling." Stella said, sounding as if she were one of the insensitive scientists that built her. Her voice went back to normal as she addressed her brother directly. "He knows, Demetry."

The eldest Titan nodded. "Okay, well, think of it this way. We were designed to hunt and kill Crusnicks. In other words, we were the extermination team, and you do not want the prey to outlive the predator, so we Titans were built to age almost at the same level as the Crusnicks, if not a year or so slower."

Abel nodded. "So you two are…"

Stella shrugged. "A couple decades old, but, ladies, can we get this tea party over with and concentrate on the task at hand."

Demetry smiled, revealing a shiny fang. "Already have. You've forgotten, dear sister that I can concentrate on two things at once. Here's the plan. Because I have no choice but to protect the Emperor, you shoot me here so I enter the unconscious state. You guys go kill him, don't worry, he's positively weak. Come back, retrieve my body and heal me and we run like hell before the Methuselah get here."

Abel could tell that Stella was reluctant to kill her brother, but who wouldn't be? _You weren't. _He reminded himself. Finally, biting her lip, she said, "Okay."

Abel shot his gun without hesitation and they both sprinted up the stairs.

"Wait, Demetry, your necklace!" Stella tried to hand it to him."

The failing Titan shook his head. "It's yours now, sister."

**A/N: all right I've kept my quota. I've written a chapter with one minute of the day to spare. Ha! Beat that.**


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N: Just read the stupid chapter. It was hell to write. I'm sorry that there is no climatic fight scene, but hey, you figure this guy is going on 70. Do your grandparents fight that much? The shock of seeing Stella alone should have killed him, but I decided that he should be the ever confident, ego maniac kind of Emperor. Once again, I am sorry for not being the best action scene writer.**

**Little side note: The country Stella's from does not have a lot of advanced technology and doesn't have a lot of guns, that is probably why the Titan siblings aren't dead yet.**

**Disclaimer: Do you own Trinity Blood? No. Does anyone you know own Trinity Blood? Really? Does it count as a ransom?**

Stella's heart's pounding increased as they ran up the steps. It was simple, get in, murder the most powerful man in the country, bring dead brother back to life, and get out of the country while dodging hundreds of guards. _Well, maybe it's not so easy. _It wasn't the assassination of the most powerful man in the country that bothered her; it was the hundreds of vengeful guards.

She increased her speed, drawing even with Abel and even going past her friend. This wasn't just for her country, nor was it for vengeance or her own freedom. It was something that was mixed together. Something that would make her mind and heart at ease at last, after decades of it hurting every time she walked around a street corner.

The huge mahogany door came into view and Stella took out her daggers.

Crossing her hands in front of her, she pushed through the door, not bothering to open it. There. In front of the window. The gray-haired fat man whirled around. His eyes looked crazed as he took a whistle to his loose lips and blew. The high-pitched noise would have left a dog deaf, and nearly did Stella, but she shook off the ringing in her for the disaster at hand.

Black shapes were floating up from the floor. More vampires. This time, there were eight of them and they all had weapons. Two began to shoot at her. Screaming with rage when a bullet hit her shoulder, Stella jumped on them. Two quick stabs through the heart and they were finished. She charged the closest one to her and heard Abel taking care of the others in his Crusnick form.

Blood made numerous puddles on the floor as Stella approached the old man that had caused so much hurt and grief. He looked at her with daring eyes and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Die." She said angrily as she charged him.

"Ladies first." He smirked, the knife going out to Stella.

She hissed as it hit her, but her dagger had found its way into the man's heart long before he had even swung his arm. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he grabbed her bleeding arm and whispered something to her.

"You'll never make it out of the city."

Stella shrugged the dieing man off of her. Suddenly an acidic feeling crawled up her arm. "A poisoned dagger! Of all the lowly…"

Whatever she was going to say (Believe me, she was going to say a lot), was interrupted by Abel "Stella! Let's go."

Stella turned around to him. "Right." She nodded and began running, not bothering to tell him about the wound.

She got down to the room and, with difficulty, picked up Demetry's limp form. Whirling around, she heard troops marching up the only escape route. Abel came next to her panting and her mind was in a whirlwind of confusion. She had to do something, or they were all dead. The whole time, she was pushing life back into her brother as the poison took it away from her.

Finally getting the only feasible answer, she handed Demetry to Abel. Taking a deep breath, she pushed both hands forward. The stone blocks blasted out into the drizzling night. Stella ran forward without hesitation and landed on one of the many balconies below.

"Abel, throw him down to me!" she shouted.

Abel's nervous head peeked out over the side of the building and Demetry's body came hurtling down. Stella caught him expertly and continued tending to his death. Demetry groaned as Abel flew over their head and landed next to them. Demetry opened an eye, and raised his head.

"Everything going according to plan?"

"Yes." Stella said blandly, trying to ignore the pain going through her head.

"Good." Demetry leaned his head back again. He never was a good a healer as Stella.

Stella looked down. They had fallen farther than she had thought. They were a few stories from the next balcony. Stella jumped, caught Demetry and waited for Abel. They repeated this process eight times, all the way dodging thrown spears, swords and the occasional bullet.

Demetry could fully stand when they finally got to the street and Stella led them through a labyrinth of back roads and alleys. When they came to the docks, a group of close to twenty men were waiting for them. _No, not when we are this close._ The Titans ran forward before Abel had a chance to and knocked all of them unconscious. Stella ran to the same ship they had been on before and grabbed the Captain by his shirtfront.

"Listen, we have no time for your shit, so let us on or forfeit your ship."

To her surprise, there were tears in his eyes. "You… you really did it, didn't you? You've freed us all."

Stella slowly nodded, all of the sudden feeling very drowsy.

The man's gray mustache lifted up. "Come on then, the entire trip, free of charge and the best sail you'll ever have in your entire lives!"

The group got onto the ship and left the dock. When Stella saw a group of angry citizens, she couldn't help but smile and wave. She saw her hand shaking at the same time the boys did.

"Stella, are you all right?" asked Abel worriedly.

Stella smiled at him in a daze. "You are a really good friend, Abel. Now, Demetry, fix me." She swayed and fell into Demetry's arms.

She was paralyzed and felt the warmth of Demetry's healing course through her. _You did it. You really did it. You've freed the nation and you can finally live there in peace. _Stella suddenly realized she did not want to go back. She dreaded the very thought of it. She wanted to stay in Rome and help the AX. Sighing, and giving herself up to unconsciousness, she decided that that was exactly what she was going to do.

**A/N: Slightly longer chapter. I hope you guys liked it. I have over 900 hits on this story.**


	22. Chapter 21

A/N: All right peoples, there was a problem between chapters 3,4,and 5. Go back and read them if you need to.

I basing my thoughts on that normal people have two or three helpings of sugar in their tea (which means I would have four) so just go with me here when I say that eight sugars is a lot.

**Disclaimer!dooB ytinirT oD I**

Abel sighed. His world was completely at ease again. Demetry had revived his sister and explained to him that the country would be fine until they sorted something out. The only people to know of the fall for at least the next two weeks would be the city of Dormaloone, and by time the next town over was there, someone would be in power again.

Abel looked across the train compartment at his two new friends. Demetry was attempting, but not succeeding, to sleep, while Stella annoyed him in every subtle way. It seemed that he made the girl actually act the age she looked (of course, by now Abel estimated her to be almost as old as him). Deciding it was time to have some fun; he put on a very serious face.

"So, Stella…" Abel started, getting her attention. "How come the first thing you think when you are rejuvenated from death is that I messed up?"

Stella looked at him and for the first time Abel had ever seen her, blushed a deep crimson. "Well… er… Be quiet, Abel, can't you see Demetry's trying to sleep."

Grinning like a schoolboy, Demetry jumped up. "Nope! I'm up. Go on, Stella."

Stella gave him an Oh-I-am-so-going-to-get-you-in-your-sleep look. "Um…."

"Stella, you know it isn't polite to put things off." Abel said.

"Er…. oh, I'll go get tea! Thirteen sugars for you, Abel, eight for you Demetry? Right, bye now." Stella ran out of the compartment as fast as her feet could carry her, which was fairly fast considering everything.

"Thirteen?" Demetry raised an eyebrow.

"Eh? What about you! Eight sugars are a lot." Said Abel, immediately taking the defensive.

Demetry shrugged and upturned his palms. "What can I say? I love sugary stuff. You wouldn't believe me if I told you some of the things I put extra sugar on."

"Well, your not alone." Abel nearly shouted cheerfully.

It was then that Stella decided to make her entrance. She passed out the drinks and sat down across from Abel. As the men drank their tea silently, she looked out the window and seemed to be holding back.

"Stel? Is there something you need to say?" asked Demetry gently, using what Abel guessed was his pet name for her.

Stella turned to him. "Well… I don't want to go back." She said bluntly.

Demetry raised an eyebrow. He closed his eyes and thought for a minute. "Well, you shouldn't have to. But, pray tell, where will you go?"

Stella smiled at her brother. "De, you looked just like Father for a minute." Demetry groaned and Stella rolled her eyes. "Its not a bad thing."

"That's what you think." Demetry muttered darkly and returned to sipping his tea.

Abel looked seriously at Stella. He too wanted to know where she would go. "Stella, you never answered your brother's question."

Stella blushed again and Abel concealed a grin. He could get used to this. Stella saw the grin and pouted. "Why, Father Nightroad, I do believe you enjoy putting me in these situations." She said with mock hurt. She pressed her lips together and said in one breath, "Demetry, please don't be mad at me, but I want to continue working for AX."

Demtry raised an eyebrow. "How come?"

Stella shrugged and started ticking off fingers. "One, they are a good cause. Well, at least the making sure there is peace between the countries part. Two, it will keep me busy. You know how stir crazy I am ever since the trip. Three, my powers should be put to good use. Four, I have a much higher tolerance level that most when it comes to Methuselah and Terrans."

"Which was why you only killed seven of them." Demetry said, not looking at her but raising the cup to his lips.

Stella hit his arm and he ended up choking and spluttering. "There's going to be a dead Titan if you don't keep quiet." She stared daggers at the chuckling Abel. "That goes for you too, Father Nightroad."

Demetry raised his hands up in surrender. "All right, but I have one more question. This is for Father Nightroad."

"Which is…?"

"Who are your children?"



"Father Abel Nightroad, Cardinal Kate wishes your presence in her office to know how your mission was."

"Uh… Thanks, Tres." Abel said and moved to go to the office.

"Father Abel Nightorad."

"Hm?"

"I request information as to why you have an extra unknown member in your party."

Demetry stepped forward. "Demetry Iceheart, at your service."

"Acceptable."

"Why does he talk like that?" Demetry whispered loudly to his sister.

"He's an android." Stella whispered back. She stepped forward as well. "Tres, this is my brother. He came back with us after… you know what? Just download a copy of the report."

"Acceptable." Tres turned on his heel and led them down the long hallways.

"Demetry, be on your best behavior when we meet with Cardinal Kate, this is my first mission and I want her to know it went off without a hitch."

Demetry saluted her. "Yes ma'am. Mission: To not totally screw up baby sister's chances at entering a highly dangerous organization."

"I am not a baby! I'm probably almost as old as the rest of the people here, in human years." Stella hissed as they entered the office.

Cardinal Kate's hologram sat behind the large desk. "Well?" she asked expectantly.

"Emperor successfully assassinated and country in a nice uproar. They should be all right for at least another week." Stella said as respectfully as she could after three and a half days of her brother's influence.

"Good. Now we have to decide what to do about leadership." Cardinal Kate said seriously.

Stella thought for a minute, and then grinning like a bobcat, she spoke. "May I make a suggestion?"

Kate eyed her thoughtfully. Then, sighing she consented. "All right, you do know more about the country than I do."

"Let Demetry run it."

"What?" Cardinal Kate looked more surprised than angry.

"The country needs a leader that is impartial to both Terrans and Methusalah. Being neither, Demetry can rule fairly. Besides that, he loves people and would die so that the citizens were happy."

Cardinal Kate raised an eyebrow at the new information. She hadn't yet been told about the Titan siblings. "And what exactly, is he."

Stella sighed and took a chair. "This is a long story, but here goes. We were both born in a lab…"

**A/N: Well here you go. This has been hell with this chapter so you had better be happy! I'm sorry I haven't gotten it out sooner, but I have been starting a new fanfic. Oh well, sucks to be you. Deal with it.**


	23. Chapter 22

A/N:… 

**Disclaimer: I don't own Trinity Blood. Back off.**

"I can stay!" Stella's happy squeal could be heard down the steps where Abel and Demetry had been anxiously waiting.

Both had their own secret hopes as to where Stella would be going. Demetry hoped that his baby sister would come back with him, but Abel was hoping his new friend would not have to, knowing that it would hurt her in more ways than one.

Demetry flashed a sad smile in Abel's direction. "Well, I guess she's staying." He held out a hand to Abel, who started to shake. The Titan's grip tightened. "If anything ever happens to her, I'm coming to get you first." He said in all seriousness.

"Eh?"

Stella came running down the steps, but tripped on the temporary sister's habit she had been given. With a small 'oh', she began to fall. Remembering Demetry's warning, Abel rushed to help her. He caught her elbow and ended up falling himself.

Stella picked herself up and helped Abel up. "What in the world did you do that for?" She asked.

"Eh… hehe…"

"So I'm guessing that you've made an arrangement?" Demetry asked, saddening.

Stella nodded. "You are going to depart tomorrow morning for your country. You will have complete control; the Cardinal has a treaty for you to look over. Basically it says that you will gain all rights as Emperor as long as you share any technology and remain at peace with both Albion and the Vatican. It seems there is enough trouble in Albion after the death of their queen a year and a half ago." She didn't see Abel's cringe. "It seems that they only want you to remain neutral in case troubling times are ahead."

Demetry's eyes narrowed. "You know that is not what I mean."

Stella smiled impishly at him. "Of course, but come on, did you think that I was going to answer you directly? Yes, Demetry, I'm staying here. They will provide payment and I will work here. I must get my own food, lodgings and the Cardinal wants me to at least try church." Stella shrugged. "Apparently it's not too late for a murderer who lives forever." She noticed Demetry's crushed look and hugged him. Stella could only reach his waist, as Demetry was as tall as Abel. "Look, you know I can't go back, besides, there's nothing for me there. I'm not into the whole power thing. Besides," she leaned forward and dropped her voice, "you know you need someone to tell you how things are straight. I've heard about a man here, head of the Inquisition. He's a little, you know. I'll tell you what is going on. Humans are still humans."

Abel pretended he didn't hear. "So… er Stella? Do you know where you are going to go?"

Stella shrugged. "Right now, Demetry and I will share a room for tonight. I doubt we will go to sleep. We have decades to catch up on." She smiled. "Anyway, there is still question as to who I'm being partnered with." She glanced down at the paper in her hands. "It seems that you, me, Leon, and Tres will all be scrambled into two groups of two." She made a face. "Hmm… I don't know if I would be able to handle Tres's silence."

"We all know that." Demetry said, smiling.

Stella didn't take the bait. "Come on, you." She turned away, pulling Demetry's hand. "We need to talk." She called over her shoulder. "See ya, Abel."

Abel waved half-heartedly. _Great, I'm pretty sure that Demetry was serious. With that little firecracker around, you'll be dead within the month. _He sighed and went to the kitchen to fill his stomach.



Stella ignored the pain she felt as Demetry left her and Abel at the train station. _It's not like you are never going to see him again. Come on, you two will see each other in no time. _

Demetry hugged his sister and kissed her forehead. "Be good. Don't do anything stupid. And try not to embarrass me." He shook Abel's hand. "And you, remember what we talked about before." He jumped onto the train.

Stella waved and watched the train rush past. When it was gone, she turned to Abel. "What did you guys talk about before?"

"Er… um… nothing." Abel smiled.

Stella raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes, unconvinced. "Right." She said sarcastically. "Come on then, I have to make sure you get back all right and then I have to go out apartment searching."

"Hey! Who do you think is protecting who?" Abel asked, affronted.

Stella pretended to think for a minute. "Hmm… I _know_ I'm protecting you."

Before Abel could reply, his stomach did audibly. He put an arm across it. "Er… seems I'm hungry."

Stella rolled your eyes. "I feel like a mom. Next time eat before we leave." She shook her head. "And you seriously think you are in charge." She laughed briefly before walking towards the exit.

Abel thought about what she said for a moment, and then realized that she wasn't there. "Hey! Wait up!" He yelled, tripping over his own feet more than once in his attempts to catch up to her.

When he finally did, she looked sideways at him. "So, I have a quick question."

"Oh?"

"Why is Father Leon so much younger than everyone one else?"

"You're younger than everyone else." Abel pointed out.

"Not true, technically, I'm probably the oldest one there." She thought for a minute. "Besides you, maybe."

"True. Father Leon senior brought Father Leon to us when he was an infant. No one knows when he was conceived or even who his mother is. Why do you ask?"

Stella shrugged. "I want to know more about him. It's you, Tres or him that are my new partner, and I want to know more about you guys. Tres is an android and you… well… you are…"

"What? I'm what?" Abel asked, slightly nervous as to what the answer might be.

"You are a compassionate, kind, scatter-brained, nervous priest who is willing to take in any stray off the street even though her brother happens to have been born to wipe out your species." Stella grinned at him.

Abel pouted. "As I've said to numerous friends in the past the only reason I appear to be scatter-brained is the situations I am constantly put in by others!"

"And you forgetting breakfast this morning was because Sister Ellen was holding the food hostage?" Stella said, referring to the nicest Sister in the entire church.

"Hey! That's not fair. And it happens to not be my fault, it's yours for waking me up in a hurry to say good bye to your brother."

Stella pouted pitifully, glad to finally get her revenge on him for making her blush on the train. "You mean you didn't want to say good-bye to my brother, even though he considers you one of him best friends?" this was partly true. After all, how many friends could Demetry have after decades of isolation?

Abel was flabbergasted. "Hey! That's not fair."

"Come on, Father Nightroad." Stella said, picking up her speed.

**A/N: a little bit of fluff in this chapter. Review!**


	24. Chapter 23

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, I've been busy and my computer has been acting weird. Anyway, most of this chapter is about Stella starting a new life and how well she fits in. Stuff like that.**

**Sorry about the refrigerator, I'm not sure if they had that, because some stories say they did and others say they didn't. So I just made this one just a simple thing that kept the food cold. **

**Disclaimer: If you are reading this, then I truly know that you have no life, so, to humor you, I will say it: I do not own Trinity Blood.**

After closing the white front door,Stella looked around her new apartment. The dark brown carpet from the little hallway she was in went through the living room. The living room had a nice dark brown couch and chair that were set at a ninety-degree angle across from a brick fire-place. A coffee tale sat in front of the two. On it was a small plant Abel had given her as a house-warming gift. She noticed Cardinal Kate's house-warming gift was already hanging on the mocha colored wall. Stella ignored the cross and set her bags, except one, on the table. The table was the same color as the coffee table and the four chairs the same color, though not as comfortable, as the couch.

Stella walked between the little half-walls and into the small kitchen's. She knelt down and rubbed away a slight smudge on the linoleum floor. On her right side, there was a counter, stove, and another counter with three drawers going down it. Three feet of open space allowed her room to look out the window. She could see the church from where she was. Against the same wall as the window, was a fridge that was chest height. To Stella, it was one of the best features in her apartment. In her home country, there was never anything so advanced, though she doubted it would stay that way for long with her brother in charge. Along the same wall as the fridge, there was a counter twice the size of the first two, a sink, and another small counter that attached to the half wall. Smiling, Stella took Leon's gift out of the bag and set it in the fridge. The sad excuse for a cake took up the entire top shelf.

As she left the kitchen, Stella grabbed the other three bags. Cardinal Kate had been more than generous in giving her all the clothes that she would be able to wear on unexpected missions, but still look like a normal person if she went out on the streets.

She walked down the narrow carpeted hallway and opened the first door she came to. She had spent some of her week's pay on necessities. She put a bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap in the bath/shower. She also put a roll of toilet paper on the tank of the toilet. She filled the white shelf above the linoleum with perfume, deodorant, and extra soap. The linoleum in the room was the same color as the kitchens, but this room was a nice sky blue.

She exited the bathroom and went down the hall to the last room. She opened the door and entered. The room was dramatically different than the rest of the apartment. The blue-gray carpet was more solid. The dark blue walls were much different than the warm theme of the house, but Stella liked it. Her room was a place for brooding, not entertaining. Directly across from Stella was the side of the dark wood armoire. Stella put her clothes in it. Three feet away from the wardrobe was the bed, made out of the same dark wood. There were thick silver sheets and a blanket on top. The pillow was deep blue. The headboard was against the wall, so that Stella would be facing the wardrobe. Next to the bed was the large window, which had a rounded top. On the wall opposite the bed, there was a simple desk with a chair similar to the ones at the table. Smiling to herself, Stella placed Father Tres's gift on the desk.

Nearly laughing at the thought, Stella thought about the surprise that she had waiting for her when she first got back from shopping. Abel, Leon, Tres and even Cardinal Kate's hologram had snuck into her apartment and were waiting to ambush her with hugs when she got home. Each had given her their own gift. Abel had given her the plant, which he assured her wasn't poisonous and pouted quite a lot after she had implied that he would accidentally give her a dangerous plant. Leon's present was quite amusing. He had presented her with a squashed cake that said: **We come home, Stel. **He had insisted that he had misspelled her name on purpose, and later admitted to running out of room. He had also admitted that his father had tried to help, and he ended up with his hands and head getting rapped over with wooden spoon. After that laugh, Cardinal Kate had hung the cross on the wall, given her the week's pay and informed her that she would get money at the beginning of each week, but she would have to work harder than most of the other priests and nuns. Once Stella assured her that working harder to a human was just working to a Titan, the Cardinal left, muttering something about killing William Wordsworth for some infernal racket. Finally, Tres had approached her and said in his stoic way, 'It is my belief and observation that at these gatherings for welcoming a resident to a new home, that gifts are given to said resident.' He then took a small box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She took it and, after glaring at the sniggering Fathers Abel and Leon, opened it. It was a small lead figurine the size of both her fists together. It was a crescent moon with a star hanging off the end. 'I believe it is your namesake. Stella meaning star.' Tres said in his usual monotone. Stella grinned and hugged him, though she knew it should mean nothing to him, she practically heard the click in his head when he realized it was her gratitude and he patted her on the head.

Stella flopped on the bed, realizing that the Fathers stayed until Father Tres had practically pushed them out, saying they required rest. _I'll have to give Ttres an even bigger hug tomorrow. __**Don't do that. He only just realized that this is a sign of gratitude, do it too much and it'll show that they are worthless. **__Aww… come one, I just got rid of you. __**You can't get rid of your conscience. **__Yes, but I can quiet it. __**Want to try? Remember the last time that happened. **__Yes, I had a migraine for a week and almost got killed when I wasn't concentrating on staying away from the troops. __**So what did we learn? **__Sigh. Listen to the annoying voice in my head._

Stella rolled over and watched the moon float across the sky. For the first time in years, she fell into an easy sleep.

**A/N: All right, I lied. This was just about her apartment. I never knew designing and coordinating colors was so hard. Oh well, anyway, next chapter you'll learn about Stella's daily life. Boring. Maybe we'll have a vampire fight in the next chapter! Review! **


	25. Chapter 24

**A/N: Why are you here? Read the chapter!**

**Sorry for the use of more advanced technology than they might have had. Use your imagination. Also, just to make this more… realistic for the show, fax machines have to be used at a store.**

**Disclaimer: I am seriously thinking about paying for your therapy. **

Stella woke the next morning right on time. She quickly showered and changed into a dark blue shirt that went three quarters of the way down her arms and had a two-inch triangle cut out of the collar. Her pants were black and her shoes were the regular boots. _Not bad for the first day of work. _

She heard a bell outside. Gasping, she ran into the kitchen and grabbed a paper towel. She quickly cut a piece of the cake Leon had made for her and ran outside. Unfortunately, she nearly ran into one of her new neighbors.

"Oh, sorry Mr….."

"Onigoma. You must be the new tenet, Stella Iceheart?" He said putting out a hand.

Stella shook with her free hand, even through she was inwardly cringing at the name. "Yes. Um… sorry, I'm late for work. I'll talk to you later."

Stella ran without waiting to hear the man's good-bye. When she was outside, she took a breath. Something about the man's aura disturbed her. It gave the impression that it was human, but was strange and seemed malicious. Shrugging, she took a bite of her cake and started to walk briskly down the streets.



Abel woke up slowly, and would have slept longer if not for that accursed banging on his door.

"Father Abel, wake up! Stella told Tres to come get us, and now he's not going to leave me alone until we do. ABEL! WAKE UP!"

Abel groaned and quickly dressed, though not quickly enough.

"THAT'S IT! Father Tres, kick down this door."

"Wai" Abel was cut off by the door flying off its hinges and down to the floor.

Tres's head popped in. "Father Abel Nightroad, your presence is requested by Lady Stella Iceheart." Tres's referring to the girl seemed more complete with proper tiles installed.

"Yes." Abel said weakly.

"Here." Leon threw a Danish at him. "Eat while we walk."

Abel put on his shocked look. "How many times do I have to tell you? It isn't good for digestion to eat on the move."

The young man rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't have to if you would wake your sorry ass up." He started walking forward.

"Such language." Abel shook his head in mock-sadness. He began to nibble at the Danish and follow his young friend.

They found Stella in the room where they spent their time while they were supposed to be 'working' on reports and collecting data. The room had counters surrounding the perimeter and different chairs at each machine. There was also an island in the middle on the room that was used for general working. Stella was bent over a machine; her dark curly hair obscured her face.

"Lady Stella Iceheart, mission complete."

Stella looked up and smiled. "Hey guys. Tres, stop calling me Lady and Iceheart, I'm just Stella."

"Negative. Proper titles are required for the iden"

"Fine, call me what you will in private, but when I'm in hearing range, it's just Stella, or I'll rework your circuiting." Stella gave in. "We got a couple of faxes this morning, but I took care of them. Here Abel, I haven't read this yet; it's addressed to you. Anyway, I think it has something to do with our partner assignment." She handed him a manila envelope.

Abel took it and read it over.

**Abel,**

**Upon reviewing things, I've recently come to realize that you, Tres, Leon, and Stella are the only ones qualified to go on actual dangerous missions. This being the case, there is no longer any point in assigning actual partners. I reviewed some of the qualifications lists. They are pasted below. The people first posted on the list are the most qualified, the last the least. You will notice that some people are not posted for certain missions. These people are only to be used in the direst of circumstances. **

_**Low level danger **_**(humans with weapons, weakened Methuselah, peaceful foreign affairs): **_**Abel Nightroad, Tres Inques, Michael Leon.**_

_**Moderate level danger **_**( questionable foreign affairs, Young/inexperienced/slightly dangerous Methuselah): **_**Abel Nightroad, Stella Iceheart, Tres Inques, Michael Leon.**_

_**Foreign Affairs: **_**(affairs with Albion, the Empire, or the Unnamed country that are crucial to our gain of political knowledge/trust/alliances)**_**: Stella Iceheart, Abel Nightroad.**_

_**Exteme level danger: **_**(Methusalah, unknown species, dangerous weapon/people and all that apply)**_**: Abel Nightroad, Stella Iceheart, Tres Inques.**_

**Each person will go on missions as allowed. I prefer not to have anyone go out alone, it they must it will be Stella or Tres. Preferably Tres. No complaining. We cannot afford to loose anyone to running away, death or otherwise. You may show this to the others, but please refrain from allowing Leon to burst into my office. Though I have no control over Stella, I would like her to remain mute about her powers to outside society. I expect a report on all Stella is willing to share with us about her powers.**

**Cardinal Kate**

Abel read over the paper twice. Apparently they trusted Stella as much as anyone else in the organization, more if you examined the list carefully. Abel handed the note to her, with Leon reading over her shoulder. Stella was done in seconds. She looked about ready to explode.

"Why would I…. Er…. I'm finally happy and then she practically says that I would run away. And the powers thing, come on! Like I would tell anyone about it. I'm not even going to tell her!" She crossed her arms and turned away from the men.

"Stella, that is just the Cardinal's way of saying that she counts you as on of us. Look at it in that light." Said Abel.

Stella smiled and said brightly, "You're right, Father Abel." There was nothing good in that tone.

She walked over to a stack of reports and picked up an empty sheet. She scribbled her name down a few times, and then started filling it out. A few minutes later, she handed it to Abel. Then she went to hold Leon back from trying to murder the Cardinal for not trusting him more. Abel looked down at the description of her powers.

_Stella Iceheart is a Titan that is capable of everything a Titan is capable of to a degree that is the highest point yet achieved from the three Titan siblings and their parents._

Abel sighed. This was going to be a headache.

**A/N: Well… likee? No likee? Cookies for anyone who can guess what's coming next.**


	26. Chapter 25

**A/N: Grr….**

**Stella's work schedule is basically work until one unless you have to go to church. If there isn't any work to do, she can go and do whatever she wants on the grounds. It's basically a second home to her because, if you paid attention, there is nothing to do at her house.**

**Once again sorry about the use of advanced technology. I figure since it is thirty years after the last episode, each house would have a little transmition thing, even though they might not have visual. Besides, you figure if they are on good terms with Albion, they might be a little more advanced that they were a three decades ago.**

**Disclaimer: Abel is to money as I am to Trinity Blood.**

The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful. The Fathers were required to stay at least two straight hours working in the room on days that there were no missions or church. Stella was required to stay as long as there was work to do, but was allowed to go home at one.

A beep signaled an incoming fax. Stella got up and took before anyone else, not that she had much competition. Leon was getting a feather to stay up in the air with his feet up on a counter. Abel was taking a nap on the counter, but really was watching his friends. Tres sat in silence in one of the chairs near the door.

Stella stood reading the paper for a minute then sighed. "Hey guys, listen to this. 'I believe that there is a vampire lurking around my house. He is small and has pointed ears. He tends to stay in trees and other high places. Please help.'" She chuckled lightly.

Abel lifted his head up as Stella walked towards him. She picked up one of the headsets that were hanging on the wall. She crossed the room and sat back in her chair. A few minutes later, she started her conversation.

"Yes, hello, I'm calling in response to a fax that was excuse me, what? Oh all right, Mr. Len. No, sir that is not a Methuselah it is a cat. Yes, I'm sure. Sir, I guarantee you if you go outside right now, you will see a stray cat. I'll tell you what, if you don't, then I will personally come down there. Yes sir." Stella took the headset off and leaned back in her chair. She sighed heavily. "Humans are morons."

"Hey!" Leon said, abandoning his feather.

Stella smiled sweetly. "Sorry, how about this, Terrans are inferior in knowledge to the creatures they created and now have no control over."

Leon's face looked like he had swallowed something sour. "Are not."

"Statically, Father Leon, Methuselah, Crusnicks, androids and as of this point, Titans are eighty percent more likely to have a higher IQ average than that of humans." Tres said simply.

"Awww, come on! Being a human is no fun." Leon pouted and crossed his arms in a very child-like way.

"How so?" Abel asked, speaking for the first time.

Leon glared at him. "You all are stronger, faster, have more abilities. And now you're smarter than me too! Damnit! I thought we had you there."

Stella's eyebrows rose under her messy bangs. "You seriously thought you were smarter that a Titan. Leon come on, we are specifically designed to be the smartest creatures out there."

"As are androids."

"We Crusnicks had to work on a space vessel! What do you think we are, idiots?"

Leon sighed. "I guess you're right."

Stella smiled and ruffled his black curly hair. "Don't worry, you are by far the most amusing species." A sad look entered her eyes. She whispered, so that only Abel's Crusnick hearing could hear. "And the most destructive." Before Abel could say anything, Stella brightened. "Excuse me boys, I have to go." She hastily made her way to the door.

Leon watched her go with surprise. "What was that about?"

Abel made no comment. He knew that sadness. It was best to leave her alone, but, knowing Stella's impulsiveness and quick temper, he would definitely be keeping an eye on his young friend.

Stella came back a few minutes later and sat down silently and started to write some things down on yet another report paper. An hour later they heard the silver bell ding for lunch.

Stella looked up, gathered her papers together in a neat pile and tugged on the blue sleeves of her shirt. "Ready?" She smiled at the men, who had been copying her movements in an attempt to not look like slobs.

She followed them down to lunch, where they grabbed some soup and, on Stella's suggestion, headed outside. Tres, surprisingly, joined them. Abel didn't think that he had ever spent so much time with the android. When they went outside, Stella stretched out onto the grass with her arms crossed behind her head.

"This is great!" She said happily. "Though I haven't done so much paper work in my entire life." She added as an afterthought.

She nodded towards the soup and bread. "You guys can have that if you want."

Abel and Leon looked at each other and dived after the food. Tres did not eat, so he had no reason, though he had a faint look of amusement on his face. Stella ignored the 'men', though she was starting to think of them as boys, and tried to take a nap on the grass.



Stella collected the last of her paper and pulled down the cloth blinds of the two windows in the room. She strode out of the room with paper in her hands. She poked her head into the cafeteria, where Abel and Leon had disappeared into an hour after their lunch break. They were currently shoveling huge amounts of old bread into their mouths.

"See ya, guys. I'm going to head out now."

Abel waved, not taking his hand off of a loaf. Stella chuckled and shook her head. She passed Tres in the hallway and said good-bye to him as well, before stepping out onto the street.

When she got back to her apartment complex and walked up the two flights of steps, she found herself in a situation she did not want to be in. Because of the narrowness of the hall, Stella had to press herself up against the wall as Mr. Onigoma came out of his apartment. Unfortunately for her, he wanted to stop and chat.

"Ah, Miss Iceheart…" Stella tried to make her wince more visible, but he apparently had a problem seeing. "How are you? I was wondering if I could talk to you about last night?" He smiled disarmingly.

Well, disarmingly for a human woman. Obviously this man did not know about Stella the Titan. "Of course you can." She smiled sweetly but had maneuvered around Mr. Onigoma so that she was closer to her door.

"Well, I noticed that there were a lot of _men_ in your apartment last night, along with loud noises. Besides that, the men left late last night and were rather loud in leaving. One of your friends nearly knocked me down as I was coming out of my apartment."

Stella's eyes flashed and she could feel her body growing hot. Not only was this man calling her a whore, he was complaining about her first friends she had in years. She allowed her eyes to flash, but she put on her mask as she spoke to Mr. Onigoma.

"Well, I'm very sorry about that. Abel is clumsy. And the men are friends from work. In case you didn't know, my female employer was there also, but she had to leave early. Good day to you." She nodded her head and opened her apartment door, forgetting to make it look like she needed to unlock it.

**A/N: I got one person trying last chapter to see what is coming ahead. Come on people, guess!**


	27. Chapter 26

**A/N: Yay someone got it, well, for the most part.**

**I didn't know what to call it, but from now on, when the people are in the room, we'll call it the office. **

**Okay, I just got a good look at Father Leon for the first time in a while and I need you guys to realize some things. 1. Father Leon Jr. is not as tall as his father. 2.Father Leon Jr. is not as muscular. Well, that pretty much covers everything. **

**Tres has also learned how to act out in public. So when he is around citizens, he acts weird, but not too weird. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Trinity Blood. Neither do you, mom, Santa clause, orange basketball, Michael Jackson…**

Abel, surprisingly, was at the office before Stella. As was Father Leon and Tres. Finally, five minutes after she was supposed to be there, she burst into the room, panting. Considering what Abel had seen of the Titan's speed, this was highly unusual.

Dumping her stuff on the little space she had claimed she tucked the two crimson strands of hair behind her ears. "Sorry I'm late everyone, my new neighbor likes to talk to me." Leon grunted, Abel shrugged and Tres remained silent. She looked at them all strangely. "Talkative bunch, aren't we?" She put her jacket (the same one she had gone on the mission with) on the back of her chair, revealing a white shirt. Her eyes shifted to the side for a moment and she gasped. "You guys!" she yelled as she quickly went over to the fax machines. "Why didn't you pick this up?"

"What up?" asked Leon lazily. Abel chuckled to himself; Leon was becoming more and more like his father every day.

Abel could practically see his friend roll her eyes, but her back was turned to them. "This sheet came out of the second fax. This is from the Cardinal!" she read over it quickly. "Hmm… it seems there's been an increase in missing persons lately…. A lot of them come from my area. We have a meeting at twelve with the local police. Apparently, two of the missing people showed up today."

"Well, that's good." Said Leon, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the island.

As Stella passed him, still reading the paper, she lifted both legs up off the island and let them drop. "Dead."

"Oh."

"Twelve… that's lunch." Complained Abel.

Stella rolled her eyes. "Want to come with me Tres? I need to stretch my legs and I doubt these two are going anywhere."

"Positive." Tres said without blinking.

Stella sighed happily. "Good, now that I finally have something to report _on_, I can rest easy. First thing's first. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since that cake." Stella smiled brightly.

"That lump of icing that you came in with yesterday?" Abel exclaimed. "Why haven't you eaten anything?"

Stella shrugged. "I was too angry last night and didn't need to eat. I only need to eat every so often, it's more for flavor than anything else when I eat more than once a day."

"I will procure rations for Miss Stella Iceheart."

"Tres."

"Stella."

Stella sat down. "This is such a weird report. These people go missing and don't return, yet most of the people have nothing in common. It's as if they are attacked at random." Her brow furrowed. She twisted her red curl around her finger idly.

"You're one of those people who won't let something go, aren't you?" Leon asked.

"Hmm? What's that Leon?" She looked up from the paper.

"I'll take that as a yes."



"This is where we put the body." The policeman said gruffly pulling the body out of one of the cabinets. **(A/N: morgue cabinets, you know the ones?)**

Stella nodded in his direction. "All right, we'll look this over." Her tone said he should leave.

Instead, the officer turned to Tres. "You'll be all right here sir?"

Tres barely looked at the man. "Yes."

When the officer had walked away, Stella made a face after him. "Ohh… why I ought to…" she raised her fist. "Knock his lights out."

Tres caught her fist. "Stella Iceheart, it is not advisable to 'knock his lights out' as he is an officer and would most likely arrest you."

Stella made a sour face. "I should have taken Leon."

She pulled back the paper cloth that was covering the man's body down to his chest. She started searching the skin carefully for what she was looking for.

"Stella Iceheart I request information regarding what you are doing." Now that they were alone, Tres acted like his normal self.

"Stella." She replied absentmindedly. "I'm looking for cause of dea- there."

She had found it. Two small holes near the right throat glad. There was no scab, and no blood residue left. This man had had all his blood sucked out. It was undoubtedly a vampire attack.

Of course, this was very strange. There were so many things wrong that Stella didn't know where to begin. One, the mark was in the wrong place. Usually, it was down near the collarbone. Two, vampires didn't suck everything out. Most vampire attacks were out of spite or to get something else. A vampire actually feeding on people's blood for sustenance hadn't been seen in… decades. Three, the bite was wrong. The holes were small, and vampire fangs were at least a centimeter thick. These were barely half that. Stella ran a tongue over her own fangs. She moved to the second body. It was the same, except the marks were vertical and more towards the center of the neck.

_These vampires aren't picky, are they? _Stella twirled her red curl around her finger. _The holes are smaller, but… _she switched to another thought. _The police seem pretty spooked. Apparently there hasn't been a vampire attack in a long time._ Stella's eyes widened. _They haven't had any attacks in awhile, but there must be a place that has._

**A/N: Dun. Dun. Dun. Now we have to deal with freaky vampire attacks. Review!**


	28. Chapter 27

**A/N: Pickles.**

**Quick Note: Please take note that when people are thinking, they think the word vampire, but when Stella is speaking she, for the most part says Methuselah. This is out of respect for them.**

**Another Quick note: Stella spent about a week and a half looking for an apartment, so Demetry is back and in control now.**

**Disclaimer: don't you want to know what happens in this chapter? Fine. You take much more enjoyment out of my pain. You are all a bunch of sadistic happy-vampires.**

Stella thanked the officer (and was ignored again) and they both left. The police were of no help to them, as she suspected. There had not been a blood sucking in the Vatican for years. When they got back, Tres went off on some errand that had reached his sensors while Stella made her way to the Cardinal's office. She knocked, and went in. For a moment, the room remained empty.

"Yes, Stella?" Cardinal Kate's voice preceded her hologram.

Stella stepped forward so she was standing in front of the Cardinal. She put some pictures on the desk. As the Cardinal looked them over, she explained her position.

"This is why I am wondering if I could speak with someone who has a higher Methuselah population."

Cardinal Kate closed her eyes. "This is definitely a troubling situation. Do you have any idea at all as to what is going on?"

Stella hesitated, but continued anyway. "For some reason, these Methuselah were drinking the blood _and_ their teeth appeared smaller. Over the course of two months, thirteen people have gone missing. However, there was only a three-day time when the people actually went missing. In other words, when there was a full moon. The full moon was known before Armageddon as a time when people would act strangely. Methuselah, having some traces of Terran DNA, could be reacting to the full moon. I believe that these three facts connect them somehow."

Cardinal Kate nodded. "I have someone you can talk to." She reached over and typed on a small gold keypad on her desk. As they waited for an answer Sister Kate eyed Stella warily. "How do you know what people thought before Armageddon?"

Stella held back. "Please, this is one of the best kept secrets of me and my brother. It's personal and I do not want anyone to find out."

Cardinal Kate rummaged around in her desk until she brought out a small black book with a golden cross on it. She put her hand on it. "I promise on my word as the Cardinal as well as the bible that I will tell no one about this."

Stella sighed. "I assume by your aura that this is a good thing. My brother and I, in our short time of freedom, uncovered a hidden library from before Armageddon. It was completely intact. We took as many books as we could on our travels, but then when we returned to the city, we put them back."

Before Cardinal Kate could respond, she started to look seriously ticked. "That Wordsworth. Sixty years old and he is still tinkering with that stupid thing. Stella, I'm sorry, but I have to go. The person you are about to speak with is Virgil. He's the Methuselah that now has control of Albion. Well, that is until they name a new queen." With that, the Cardinal's hologram flickered out.

Stella only had to wait a few seconds before a young Methuselah's hologram flickered in front of her. Albion had certainly come a long way, he was a life-sized hologram and he was in full color.

"You, I'm guessing, are the one who called for me." He said not unkindly.

Stella smiled gently at the man. "Well, that was Cardinal Kate. She has to go kill a sixty year-old man for doing something, so I guess I'm the bad news-bearer."

"And who exactly are you? You are not wearing a sister's uniform."

"That is because I am not a sister, though it seems that everyone here is trying to convert me." Stella kept her tone light and casual. "No, I'm Stella Iceheart and I just work here with Fathers Tres, Leon and Nightroad."

The Methuselah's holographic eyebrow rose. "Really? Now I'm interested. I'm Virgil. What, may I ask is the nature of this interesting call?"

Stella didn't hesitate with this man. Even though he was a hologram and it was hard to tell, this man had no ill intent. "Well, as of late there have been people going missing here in the Vatican. Thirteen to be exact, and they all have gone missing in the three day full-moon phase. None of the people have anything in common and have no apparent connection with anyone of direct importance. Two of the people were found today, dead. They were sucked dry of any blood. It seems they were being used for nourishment. It is my observation that there have been no attacks like this for years, decades in fact. Also, the fang sizes on their necks were much smaller, a little bit bigger than my own." She flashed her fangs at him.

Virgil had a troubled look on his face. "In the past, we vampires have been known to drink blood for energy, but most have forsaken this way and have opted for a less illegal course of action." He said slowly.

Stella nodded her head. "That's what's got me thinking. I needed someone who was around Methuselah all the time and lived in a society where this kind of thing was… well, normal. Cardinal Kate apparently recommends you."

Virgil nodded. "This kind of thing is definitely semi-normal. Here in Albion humans attack Methuselah and vice versa much of the time."

"I need several things from you, if you don't mind."

"It would be a pleasure, Miss Iceheart."

"Stella." She said automatically.

"What?"

Stella pushed away a little embarrassment, she had insulted one of the world's leaders and she was practically representing two countries. The Vatican and her brother's, of course. "Oh um, sorry. I hate that name."

Virgil nodded. "I see why you would."

"Anyway, could you get me a list of the average fang size for the past two decade and a copy of all repots on Methuselah attacks on Terrans for the same amount of time?" She smiled.

"Of course, it'll take some time, they'll probably come sometime next week." Virgil nodded. "Is that all you need?"

Stella fidgeted slightly. "Well, yes. Have you had any contact with the newest Emperor of the unnamed country?"

Virgil looked surprised. "No, I wasn't aware that there was a new Emperor. Can't be worse than the last one though, how did they get rid of him?"

Stella made sure her face was blank before saying, "I assassinated him."

"Oh? I have two more questions." Virgil did not seemed disturbed by the news.

"Yes?" asked Stella, her apprehension growing.

"Who is the new Emperor and what are you?"

Stella sighed sadly. She knew this was coming. "I am a Titan, sir. We are creatures designed to hunt and kill Crusnicks and any other enemy. I am one of the last, besides my brother."

Virgil's eyes widened. "Kill Crusnicks?" he whispered. "But you must be aware…"

"Yes. Luckily enough for me, I have escaped those bonds and now can call Father Nightroad an ally, a friend, even. As for your other question, I'll introduce you."

**A/N: Too tired to keep going. Review!**


	29. Chapter 28

**A/N:…**

**Disclaimer: I don't even want it anymore. Twitching **

Stella fought to keep her anger down. Her brother knew how important it was to establish ties with the other countries. She and Virgil stood in silence a few minutes before her brother's hologram appeared before them.

"Oh, hello Stella." He noticed Virgil. "And who is this?"

"This is Virgil, current leader of Albion." Stella said icily.

"Ah, hello. I've been hoping to contact you…"

"And you didn't because?" Stella looked at him expectantly.

"Stella, I've been trying to get the entire country under control. The last time I was this tired was when I was on my first mission."

"I'm guessing that you two know each other." Virgil cut in, obviously trying to keep the peace.

Stella pouted. "Yes, Virgil."

Demetry grinned. "I'm her brother, and unfortunately, that gives her kicking my sorry _something _rights and I very much doubt that I could beat her when I visit next."

"Oh, you have no idea." Stella glared warningly.

Virgil smiled. "Well, nice to know that even with Titans sibling rivalry hasn't entirely died down."

Demetry turned to Stella, raising an eyebrow. "You told?"

Stella shrugged. "He's a Methuselah, it's not like anyone he's going to tell doesn't know already and even if he does tell, people will either think he is crazy or if they come anywhere near us…" Stella flashed a fang at both the men, "we'll take care of them."

Virgil chuckled. "You don't have to worry, we Methuselah's like to keep secrets from humans, it's only fair that you Titans can do the same. Especially in your position. Besides, she didn't even tell me what you guys could do."

"And I doubt very much that you'll learn that for awhile to come." Stella said easily.

"Don't worry, thirty years ago, I met Abel Nightroad and I'm still learning things about him today."

There was a knock at the door. "Miss Stella Iceheart, there has been a complication in the case. Both Father Abel Nightroad and Father Michael Leon request your presence immediately."

Stella rolled her eyes. "When is that android going to get it through his thick head I just want to be called Stella. Virgil, I'll talk to you later. Demetry, next time you're in town, come over for that butt-kicking." With that she turned on her heel and walked out the door.

Demetry smiled at Virgil. "She's a firecracker." He shook his head and chuckled. "Why don't we continue this in my office. Something tells me the next time I see the cardinal, I'll go through the third degree about our powers."



Abel frowned at the pictures that he held in his hands. A few hours ago, the police had found another body. But this one was a Methuselah. Stella marched into the room.

"What's up?" she asked.

Abel handed her the pictures. "Another body turned up, this one was in an alley. The cause of death was all over his body. They were…."

"Puncture holes. Everywhere." Stella said, not looking up from the paper. She pushed her hair away from her face. "I'll go see the body, who can go with me?"

"Er… Tres is doing something for the Cardinal and Leon just left to go see his dad. I guess I'm going."

Stella nodded absent-mindedly. "All right, let's go." She started out of the room.

Abel tried o make conversation. "So was that a successful trip to the Cardinal's?"

"Uhhmm." Stella nodded, not breaking pace. As they stepped outside she said, "I met Virgil and established ties between my brother and him. They seemed to get along pretty well."

"Wow. You went in to make a report and stepped out with the leaders of two nations liking each other."

Stella smirked. "I have a knack for knowing how to act around certain people."

Abel thought about this. It was true. She knew exactly how to mold the way she acted so that anyone around her was comfortable, and yet she was still being herself. He hadn't met anyone as likeable since…

"Father Nightroad?" Stella' worried voice cut off his thoughts. "Are you all right?" Abel looked up and saw that his feet had led him up the steps of the police station.

"Hm? Oh yes!" He said, pulling his best feather-brained priest smile.

Stella still looked worried. "Maybe you should stay outside. I could go in if you want."

"No, no, I assure you, I'm fine." Abel moved past her, but tripped on the doorframe. _Typical, my feet can lead me up steps while I'm not paying attention, but the moment I'm conscious, I fall!_

"Father Nightroad! Are you all right?" Stella exclaimed, stooping to help him up.

"Er… hehe, yes."

While he was brushing himself off, a policeman walked up. "So you're back are ye?" He seemed to glare at Stella, who ignored him.

"Yes, I've been sent along with my partner to look at the corpse of the Methuselah. I would also like to personally thank you for your complete cooperation and courtesy through this trying case." Stella smiled and put her hand out.

Abel stared at Stella. _Good show! Now the police officer has to be kind and shake her hand or risk the good name of not only himself, but also his entire station. She does not only know how to act around people, but she knows how to get a reaction out of people._

**A/N: Short chapter, but shows you more about Stella.**


	30. Chapter 29

**A/N: Oh um…. Look over there!**

**Disclaimer: all I own is my writing.**

"So he died because his throat was slit, and the blood-sucking was just a bonus." Stella said, once again in front of the Cardinal, this time Abel was with her.

Kate nodded. "I wonder why…"

Stella took over. "We'll do what we can in the meantime, but Virgil's reports are crucial to our investigation. We can't make any arrests because it is impossible to match the holes with the fangs because the holes are all the same size and Methuselah have such similar teeth that we could incarcerate someone who is innocent."

Kate nodded. "Fine. Do what you must." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Stella? Isn't it time you head home?"

Stella blushed. "Well… er… do you mind if I stay for dinner, there are a couple of things I am waiting for Tres to get to me and all I have to eat at home is Leon's cake."

Kate seemed surprised. "Of course you can stay, we always have more than enough food and you can stay whenever you like."

Stella inclined hr head. "Thanks, come on, Father Nightroad, I'm sure you are hungry."

Abel beamed. "You got that right."

They went downstairs to the slightly crowded dinging hall. They found seats next to Leon. Stella took some of the beans and bread. She hesitated before eating as the Fathers uttered a short prayer, then began eating.

"So Leon how's your father?" Stella asked politely. In her time there, she had never had a chance to meet Leon Sr.

"Fine. Dad's getting on, but he's tough. Did I ever tell you about the time that destroyed a tower and took away a bunch of fairies' powers?"

"Hey! I was there too! And I fought them!" Abel yelled indignantly. At Stella's confusion, he explained. "We were sent to an island where a man doctor had adopted a bunch of kids. He preformed strange tests on them and eventually they took over the island. They were artificial vampires, or fairies. We eventually beat them and got them off the island. They are now all in Albion, though I imagine that they are quite a bit older." He sighed. "I couldn't eat for a month for all that ship cost."

Stella chuckled. "You? Not eat? Now I know you're making this up."

"Hoe cruel. Why am I doomed to endure such scrutiny?" Abel moaned at the sky.

"Miss Stella Iceheart"

"Tres."

"Stella, here is the proper paperwork you required."

Stella, taking another bite of the beans, grabbed the paper. He wiped her mouth and said, "Take care of this." She pushed the rest of her food towards Abel and walked out.

It was dark out when she got home, but thankfully her talkative neighbor wasn't there to greet her. She walked inside without bothering to pretend to unlock her door. She had put up a whistle that would blow when someone else's aura came close to the room. The whistle was a high pitch that only she would hear. She put her stuff on the table and flipped onto the couch, thinking hard. _What is with these vampire attacks? _

Stella got up and sifted through the report. She signed her name in a few places, not having the energy to actually read the report and write what she knew. Afterwards she took a shower and changed into a nightgown. Her hand had barely grazed the surface of the doorknob of her room, there was a knock at the door.

Sighing inwardly she looked at the clock. _Who the hell would bother someone at eleven o'clock at night! _She walked briskly to the door. Opening it, she found Mr. Onigoma.

"Hello, Miss Iceheart. I was just making sure you got in all right today, I missed you at your usual come home time." He smiled charmingly.

Stella, in her agitation, ignored his charm, but smiled sweetly herself. "Yes well, it was a long day at the office. I have a lot of work to do. And if you don't mind, I think I would like to collapse on my bed."

"Of course. But…"

Stella pretended not to hear the last 'but' and slammed the door in his face. Going to her room, she did exactly as she told Mr. Onigoma she was going to do and collapsed on her bed.



Abel returned from his confession happily; there really had been nothing too terrible to confess other than his gluttony. He caught up with Stella, who was walking alone in the rose garden.

"So how did you like the service?" he asked cheerfully.

"It was…" she started.

"Yes?" Asked Abel, prompting her.

"It was so boring!" Stella exclaimed.

"What! What was boring?" exclaimed Abel.

Stella pouted and her eyes gave Abel that I'm-going-to-spell-it-out-for-you-whether-you-like-it-or-not. "One, it lasted forever. Two, whoever was reading was reading so slow that I read an entire page before he read a paragraph. **(A/N: I actually do that.) **Three, I had nothing to concentrate on…."

"Wait a minute, you had plenty to concentrate on."

"Yes, that's my point."

Abel was the picture of confusion. "But you just said…"

Stella waved it away. "A Titan has a heightened sense of smell, taste, feel, sight and hearing. Because I could not focus on one thing singularly, I had to focus on everything all at once." Abel gave her a look of confusion. She rolled her eyes and bent to pick a red rose. "This rose smells like sweet water." She plucked a piece that was half the size of a pinkie nail off of the rose and placed it in her mouth. "However sweet it may seem, it actually has a sour and slightly bitter taste to it." she closed her eyes and ran her fingers over the surface of the flowers. "I can feel the veins and the cell blocks." Her hand moved t a thorn. "Even though the thorn is sharp, it curves gracefully." She opened her eyes and squinted at the rose. "I can see the cell blocks and every fleck of pollen. I see a bee's footprint where he accidentally left some behind." She looked at Abel a smile curling her lips. She said just loudly enough so that anyone close could hear, "I can hear Father Leon's breathing behind that bush over there." She pointed to a yellow rose bush.

Stella started walking and Abel followed. When he was sure that no one is around, he laughed lightly. Stella looked at him strangely.

"And what is it so funny?"

"Do you realize that just now you've revealed to me almost everything that you've tried to hide?"

A look of realization crossed Stella's face. She gasped and spoke lowly. "Listen Abel, please don't tell the Cardinal. I know that is against the rules, but please, do it for my brother and me. We don't need anymore time in a lab."

Abel smiled kindly. "I'll try." _And I'm going to have a lot more things to confess next week. _"Why are you so secretive? You know that Cardinal Kate would not allow anyone to hurt you and your brother is the leader of an entire country. You really have nothing to fear."

Stella sighed and sat on some steps that led to the infirmary. "Leon told me on the train that the Inquisition is here. I've read about that. Before Armageddon, the Inquisition was for the most part ruthless. There was a great scientist, Galileo Galilei, he was one of the first people to ever observe another planet, and he did it through this tiny spyglass that he had modified. The things this man did were amazing, but because he said something against the Inquisition, they were going to torture him, murder him, even." Stella's eye met Abel's. "Here me and my brother are, and our very being goes out against the Inquisition. Nowadays it is worse, from what Leon told me. They are obsessed with old technology and finding out more about things they do not know about. When they find out how dangerous we are…" she shuddered and hung her head. She turned towards Abel again. "Do you have any family you would do anything to protect?"

The question hit Abel like an icy spear. He tried to keep the sadness away from his eyes as he answered, "yes."

Stella nodded, and Abel thanked god that she didn't ask about his family. She stood and, not looking at him said, "then you know the means I would go to, to make sure that no one disturbs my brother's peace or my freedom." She half-turned and smiled, "besides, you haven't even figured out our biggest secret yet."

**A/N: this chapter is slightly longer. Everybody be thankful!**


	31. Chapter 30

**A/N: Hiss…**

**Disclaimer: Bite me.**

The next two weeks went by painfully slow for Stella. As the full moon approached, she became more and more certain that her suspicion was fact. When she was called back to the Cardinal's office, she practically ran there. Three holograms awaited her along with a huge stack of papers. The men stood on either side of the desk, and Kate stood behind it.

Stella decided it was best to appear formal. "Good day, Cardinal Kate, King Virgil." She grinned. There was no way she was being formal with her brother. "_Emperor _Demetry."

"It's Leader Demetry, actually. Don't like that whole power thing." Demetry grinned at his sister's making his features appear boyish.

"What else have you found out?" Kate said abruptly.

Stella shook her head. "Nothing yet, except of course that both Terrans and Methuselah are victims in this."

"What?" Virgil asked, brow furrowing.

Stella nodded. "Last week we found a Methuselah dead. He had puncture marks all over his body."

Virgil looked uncomfortable, then said slowly, "you… you don't think that there could be more Titans out there, do you?"

Stella shook her head and unconsciously ran her tongue over her own small fangs. "No. That thought crossed my mind, but there is too much evidence that makes that theory highly improbable. Our teeth are completely round and smaller than the marks. Besides that, none of us would attack Terrans. Even if we did, our teeth were not designed to suck blood. We are specifically designed to kill quickly and effectively. The blood sucking process takes minutes, even hours, and the victim could still be left alive. No, the most probable solution is that these attacks range from child Methuselah to an entire different breed altogether."

Virgil nodded. Then his eyes became distant and his holographic head looked up. "I apologize, there seems to be a matter I must address. Over and out." His image flickered, and then went out.

Demetry sighed. "I'd better get going too. There hasn't been an hour when the old troops haven't stirred up trouble. It seems that the citizens have come to taking signs and rampaging the streets chanting 'we want Leader Demetry'." He chuckled. "quite endearing actually, but the guards that were loyal to the Emperor like to beat them to a bloody pulp." A sad look entered his eyes.

Stella reached to the back of her neck, where a scar still was from the day she had first met Father Nightroad. "I know how that is." She said quietly.

Demetry frowned and Stella remembered that she had not yet told him of her encounter. "What's wrong with your neck, Stella?"

"Um… nothing." Stella didn't think it was a good idea to tell Demetry about it. Though he was a joker, he still was overly protective of his little sister and would probably have every guard executed if he knew of what they had done to her.

Demetry didn't look convinced, but there was noting he could do as a hologram. "Fine. I'll talk to you guys later. Tell me if you find out what's going on."

"I will. You'll be the" Stella stopped to count, "seventh to know."

"Only the seventh? Seems to me you are making more friends tan I am."

"Yep, now go talk to your so called friends and save them from getting their buts kicked." Stella smiled as Demetry's hologram flickered out.

After bidding goodbye to the Cardinal, she walked back to the office with the sack of papers in her hands. She smiled to her lazy friends as she burst through the door. Leon took one look at the papers and began to complain.

"Aww, come on! We're supposed to be going out on missions, not doing all this paperwork."

"Yes, but this paperwork will lead to us going on a mission." Stella said, plopping some of the papers down in front of him.

"Not one I can go on." Whined Leon.

Stella thought about this. Leon wasn't strong enough to be allowed to go on a mission. Abel had explained to her that Leon was very much like his father in knowing how to things. He could pilot a plane, shoot a gun, and think about things that seemed improbable (though he didn't like to show it. Unfortunately, he lacked a few things like his speed, agility and endurance.

She ruffled his hair. "Tell you what, I'll help you with a few things, then you will be able to go on tougher missions."

Leon was still upset, but he turned to another subject. "Will you stop treating me like I'm a little kid!" he exclaimed.

Stella shrugged and smiled playfully. "Sorry kiddo, Father Nightroad and I both have a couple decades on you and Tres, no doubt, does as well."

Leon, seeing he was beat, muttered under his breath.

Seeing that it was almost time for her to go, Stella decided to leave the boys with a last few orders. "Um, let's see. Leon, I want you to go through the papers I showed you and graph fang length over the past two decades. Father Nightroad, you are going to graph the amount of murders over the past two decades. Father Tres, your assignment is a little bit harder. I would like you to find out how long a full body of blood can sustain one Methuselah. You might want to contact my brother for that."

"What are you going to do?" asked Abel.

"I'm going to find nail length, height, bone density and other tings about the Methuselah that might have changed." Stella said. She grabbed her coat off of her chair and slipped it on. "You guys, can you please have this done by Friday for me? It's important that we have it done at least two days before the full moon phases start."

Stella, unfortunately was not late, so she decided to linger a few minutes outside her apartment building, hoping to miss Mr. Onigoma. When the sky became overcast, and the first drops of rain started to fall, Stella had to go inside. She got up to her floor, when she brushed past Mr. Onigoma, and some of her papers caught on his clothes. The entire stack fell.

"Damn." Stella cursed as she stooped down to pick up the papers.

"Such language from a lady." Mr. Onigoma said, stooping down also.

"Who says I'm a lady?" Stella said, gathering up the papers before Mr. Onigoma could, but she missed one. She could see Mr. Onigoma reading over it.

"Vampire attacks? From twelve years ago?" He raised an eyebrow at Stella. "A little strange subject for a Terran, isn't it?"

Stella snatched the paper back. "I believe they prefer to be called Methusalah. And this is for work." _Damn I should have brought a bag. __**What bag? **__Shut up._

She ran inside before he could say anything else, making a mental note to go buy a bag.

**A/N: You know the deal. Review!**


	32. Chapter 31

**A/N: asdfghjkl;**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood. grabs rope. Yet.**

Abel stayed up la that nigh, trying to finish his graph. When he was done he was amazed to find that chart went downward, but suddenly, the past year it had gone upwards at a forty-five degree angle. Stella was going to have a field day with this.

Hw went to sleep with a troubled mind and spent the night tossing and turning. So, the next morning, he woke up rather late and had his newly repaired door, kicked down again by a certain android, who had found that kicking his door down was an excellent way to get him to go to work.

"Father Abel Nightroad, Miss Stella Iceheart is growing annoyed at your lack of presence and has ordered me to drag you to the office by your hair if you do not hurry up and comply immediately."

"Yes, Tres." Said Abel, quickly tying his hair up and perching his glasses on his nose.

When he got to the office, he was amazed to find that Leon was hard at work, instead of sitting back with his feet on the table like usual. Abel went to his own chair and scribbled the last few points on his chart, then handed them to Stella.

She smiled. "Thanks, Father Nightroad. I'll look at them after Tres has finished his report; right now Father Leon and I are going to train."

Leon's head snapped up from his work. "I thought you said I had to finish my report first."

Stella shrugged. "Your report means nothing until I finish mine and Tres finishes his, so you have some time. Besides, you need a break."

Leon grinned. "Thanks a lot, Stella."

Stella smiled "No problem. You're not going to thank me when we're done."



"Keep your arms up!" Stella ordered as she whacked each elbow with her metal pole.

Father Leon was drenched with sweat, his brow furrowing in concentration as he tried to follow every one of Stella's numerous rules. He knew if he did not, he would be in pain. She attacked again, and he successfully blocked. Stella noticed he left his side open for attack. Mentally rolling her eyes, she quickly drew her staff back and hit him in the ribs. He went flying. Stella smiled to herself and helped him up. He wasn't really all that bad for a Terran.

She held out a hand and helped him up. "It's almost time for me to go. I want you to run a mile before I leave."

"A mile! We've been training for hours!" whined Leon.

Stella fixed him with a sharp look. "Would your father be whining like this?" She asked sharply. She had learned quickly over the past few hours that the very mention of Father Leon Senior was enough to get her friend moving.

"No ma'am." He said and started to head towards the track.

They had been training in the middle of an oval track of a park a couple of yards from the church that was barely visited for the location. Apparently people didn't want to get close to the church than necessary. It made the ideal training grounds.

Stella watched as he ran around the track fur times. Abel soon joined her. Before he got within ten feet of her she said without turning around, "Hello Father Nightroad."

When Abel drew level with her he sat on the ground next to her and sighed. "You know, it creeps me out when you do that."

Stella smiled grimly. "Sorry, force of habit. For a couple of years I like to freak people out when they were trying to sneak up behind me." She glanced at Abel suggestively.

Abel did his best to look insulted. "Me? Sneak up on you?"

Stella chuckled. She turned her attention back to Leon, who was struggling on his last lap. "Keep going! If you walk I'm adding another one on!"

Abel watched as his friend tripped across the finish line. Stella went over and got him and all three started to make their way back.

"So… Stella? Any…. Plans for…. Saturday? We have it… off, you know." Leon said between pants.

Stella nodded. I'm going out shopping for a bag and then I'm probably going to go out for lunch and spend whatever I have left of my weekly salary. I have a lot left over from the past two weeks, so I'm going to treat myself."

"Hmm, can I come? I'm so bored here. Father Tres has been recording me every time I've been bothering the nuns and it's been creeping me out."

Stella nodded. "Sure."

Abel pretended to look thoughtful. "Hmm, it's been awhile since I've been out. Perhaps I should accompany you."

Stella playfully elbowed him, which actually sent him sprawling. As she was helping him up she laughed, "You big stomach on legs, you just want a free meal."

Abel brushed himself off. "How cruel. I would have you know that I have every intention on shopping." He looked at her meekly. "But a complimentary lunch would be appreciated since I have no money."

Leon rolled his eyes. "You featherbrain! How are you going to shop if you have no money?"

Stella laughed lightly. "Don't worry about it, Father Nightroad. I'll pick you and Father Leon up on Saturday." She glared at Abel. "And if you're not up, we're leaving you behind!"

Abel fell behind his friends. "How cruel." He said, bowing his head.

**A/N: short chapter. Really not a lot in this chapter, but everything leads up to something else! Review!**


	33. Chapter 32

**A/N: WEEEEEEE!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: Abel: Help us…. Me: Shut up!**

Stella accepted everyone's graphs the next day. She frowned a bit when she saw them. She knew that they were all connected, but she didn't have anything to show the Cardinal. _What is with these things? _She felt as if she was getting closer and closer. Finally, she started to realize what was going on when…

"Stella! Hurry! There's a problem!" Father Leon's panicked voice cut through her thoughts.

She didn't question, only ran. He brought her out to the gates, where a lump of black cloth lay. Her heart dropped when she saw silver hair fanning out around the figure. She ran ahead of Leon, and put her hand on Abel's back, immediately trying to heal him.

"Abel, are you all right? What happened?" she whispered softly into his ear. He shuddered but did not, or could not, answer. Stella looked up at the frightened young father. "Leon, go get the infirmary sisters and get a stretcher. Find Tres!"

As Father Leon rushed off, Stella tried to ignore her dizziness. She could heal Titans and Terrans, yes, but Crusnicks apparently took a whole lot more out of her. She blinked and briefly she felt the pain he did. She opened her eyes and gasped. The pain, it was in her side.

"Father Nightroad, I need to move you." He groaned. "I know, just let me see your side." Abel shuddered again. Stella looked into his blue eyes. They were unfocused and half-lidded.

He was conscious, but just barely. Stella doubted very much that he could even hear her. She redoubled her efforts to heal him, and nearly fell over. She put her palm on the ground to steady herself. She took deep even breaths and willed Abel to do the same. Soon she heard Tres's heavy footfalls. Father Leon ran up behind the android with the head infirmary nun.

"Damage report, Father Abel Nightroad."

"Tres, he can't hear us, he's loosing consciousness. Help him up." Stella said quickly.

Tres stepped over and picked up Abel as if he weighed nothing and set him on the stretcher the nun had brought. Leon took one end and Tres took the other. They marched towards the infirmary. Stella stood and fell to the ground from the dizziness.

"Dear! Are you all right?" the nun came over and shook her shoulder.

Stella zoned out for a minute, then blinked. "Yes, Sister Eve. Um, the pain is on his left side."

Eve looked at her wordily. "Are you sure? Maybe you should come with me."

Stella nodded. "I'll be fine soon, but I want to make sure Father Nightroad is all right."

"AAAAHHHHH!" The sister's piercing scream sent a hammering noise through Stella's ears. Stella whirled around, following Eve's gaze.

A black shape hurtled towards her. _Damn! _Stella jumped into a fighting position, ignoring how she almost went down twice as fast. The black form sent her flying, but she punched it in the gut. It flew away before Stella's vision cleared. Blood dribbled from her mouth and a cut on her cheek.



Abel opened his eyes. A bright light sent a pain racing through his head. This time when he opened them, he was looking up at a blurred version of himself. He sat up. He was in the infirmary. Light was reflecting from the white ceiling.

"Abel, thank god you are awake." Abel looked into the smiling face of Father Leon.

"Er… yes. What's going on?"

Leon smiled wearily. "That's what we've been trying to get out of you for the past hour. You talk in your sleep, you know."

Abel closed his eyes, and a black image flew towards him. "I… was attacked. From behind. I think it was a Methuselah."

There was silence for a moment before they all heard Stella's quiet voice. "He probably saw you the day we were at the police station and recognized your ponytail. He was warning us."

Abel turned and was surprised to see that Stella was in a bed three feet away from him and she was paper-white, but her color was returning rapidly now that she was gaining consciousness. She shook her head.

"I should have known." She said with disgust. She turned her face towards them. "Are you all right Father Nightroad?"

Abel nodded. "Sister Eve's medicine is the best there is. What happened to you?"

Stella laughed ruefully. "I let my guard down. Sister Eve and I were attacked. I couldn't kill him though, I was still too weak." She smiled and looked up at her reflection in the ceiling. "This is more a blow to my pride than anything." She slipped out of bed and Abel saw a bandage wrapped around her middle. "See you guys around."

When she had left Abel looked around at his friends. "Why couldn't she kill it? I've seen her do amazing things myself. What happened?"

There was a moment of silence. Father Leon and Sister Eve were looking at the floor almost guiltily. Finally it was Father Tres who spoke up.

"Miss Stella Iceheart was unable to successfully defend herself because she was weakened considerably by restoring health to Father Abel Nightroad."

Abel swallowed. He felt terribly guilty. Yet another thing about Stella to confess on Sunday.



Stella draped herself across the couch, putting the papers on the coffee table. At least Mr. Onigoma had not been there tonight. She wouldn't fall asleep for a while yet, so she sat up and looked at the papers again. Acting on a sudden impulse she spread them out on the table, so she could look at them all at once. She studied them for a moment, and then gasped.

"But that's… impossible!"

**A/N: Hey guys! Any guesses as to what is going on? Come on now… You're wrong! Oh, I'm supposed to save that till you guess. Review.**


	34. Chapter 33

**A/N: Lalalala.**

**Disclaimer: Tres: Help is required we have been kidn…. Me: hiding wrench behind back hi peoples.**

"They are evolving."

"What?" Cardinal Kate moved to snatch up the papers, and then remembering she was a hologram, turned to Stella.

Stella pointed to different charts. "Look. Nail length, fang length and width, height, night vision abilities…. They all spike to differentiating values dramatically over the past year." Stella sighed. "In Darwin's theory of evolution, species evolve to adapt to their surroundings. Perhaps, the Methuselah are evolving to adapt to their surroundings."

"What does this mean?" asked the Cardinal gravely.

Stella shook her head and sighed. "It means that they are evolving too fast to find an alternate source of food. They are given no choice except to use Terrans for food."

Virgil cleared his throat. "What do you suppose we do?" It was obvious he was afraid for his people.

Stella looked sharply at him. "I think that this change is chemical-induced. It takes thousands of years at the least to change one feature. There has to be an outside source."

Demetry figured it out before the rest of them. "Stella…" he said warningly.

Stella bowed her head. "Tomorrow starts the full moon phase. I volunteer to go on a standard get captured and find out what's going on mission."

"No!" Demetry nearly shouted. His hands clenched. "Stella, I woke up this morning to find you hurt and now you are going to put yourself in danger. If it were up to me I'd chain you to your bed."

Stella glared at her brother. "It wasn't that bad." She muttered.

"Bad enough to make you keep a bandage on it."

That's enough." Stella said sharply. She approached the Cardinal's desk and pressed a button. Demetry's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Stella addressed the others. "I think that one of us should do this; seeing with our own eyes will be extremely helpful. Tres or myself would be the best choice for this mission as I can kill anyone in my path the most affectively." Stella ceased being her normal self as she thought about the mission. She could practically feel her senses heightened to predator mode as she prepared herself mentally.

The Cardinal thought for a moment. "How do you know that you will be the one abducted?"

"All of the people missing had all gone out at night alone. They were not in any large group and no one had heard from them in an hour." Stella finished, her face blanking into a mask as her brother continued to rant and rave noiselessly.

The Cardinal thought for a moment. "Fine. You, Father Tres and Father Abel will each walk around town in different directions until you are captured."

Stella held her mask. "Cardinal Kate, I must protest. Father Nightroad is still injured from last night and I fear he will not perform as well as he could have if he were not wounded."

Demetry silenced himself. Though he could not speak, he could still hear and his sister was acting more mature than he had ever seen her. Stella, seeing her brother's silence pressed the button again and allowed his audio to come back on.

"Father Nightroad is a quick healer, his Crusnick nanomachines will have already taken care of the wound." Cardinal Kate said stiffly. "All three of you will depart as planned tomorrow night."

Stella looked at if she was going to protest, indeed a storm passed in her eyes, but she bowed her head again. "As you say." She marched stiffly out of the office.

Demetry looked at the Cardinal. "I'm going to be making a personal trip there in one week. If Stella is anything but absolutely fine, I'm going to kidnap her and take her back with me." Before the others could protest, his image flickered out.

Cardinal Kate heaved a heavy sigh. "He really does care about his sister."

Virgil nodded. "No doubt. He told me about what appended to them. It would be heart-breaking if something were to happen to her."

"It'll be bad when he gets here. I doubt very much that Stella will be able to successfully go through this mission without hurting herself."



"How did they take it?" Abel asked as Stella marched out of the building.

Stella glanced at Leon and gave Abel a look that clearly said 'later'. "Fine. Let's get going."

They walked silently to the shopping side of town. Stella slipped into a store, with her male companions not far behind. She picked up a fancy black bag and observed it with a critical eye. She eventually picked out a plain suede bag that would go from her right shoulder to her left hip. After paying for the bag, she let the men pick out the diner.

Scooting into the booth, Stella turned to Leon. "Hey Leon, go wash your hands, they look filthy." When he started to protest, she looked at him and he walked away, muttering mutinously. Abel leaned forward. He was finally going to find out what was going on. "You and me and Father Tres are all going to depart tomorrow night and see if we can get ourselves kidnapped to find out what is going on with the murders." She looked at him wordily. "Are you going to be all right, Father Nightroad?"

Abel smiled goofily. "Of course." He saw Stella was unconvinced, so he made his hand slip on some imaginary water. His arm shot the length of the table. "I'm fine."

Stella laughed lightly and cheered up considerably. Leon came back, slid into the seat next to Stella and they ordered. Abel and Leon, of course ordered the biggest dish in the diner and Stella only ordered some grilled potato wedges.

"So how come you decided to get a bag all of the sudden?" Leon asked between mouthfuls.

"Please don't talk with food in your mouth, Leon. And to tell you the truth, it's kind of embarrassing. But you know how I go home with a lot of papers every night?" They both nodded, still sticking food into their mouths. "Well, I have this neighbor, Mr. Onigoma, and well every night he is going out the same time I get in. I don't know why, but I get a bad feeling about this guy. I don't want to give him any reason to help me, even if it is just helping picking up a huge stack of papers."

"Onigoma… Onigoma…" Abel tapped his chin. "Hey leon, didn't your father once share a cell with a man named Onigoma?"

Father Leon thought for a moment. "Yeah, that guy was in the joint for a few months with Dad, creeped dad out to no end. But Stella's Onigoma couldn't be this one; he was put to death a few months after he was incarcerated."

"What was he in for?" Stella suddenly became very interested.

"Um… Oh yeah. Illegal chemical transplants and experimentation in Methuselah genetics."

**A/N: Dun. Dun. Dun. Any guesses? No? You guys are as dill as dishwater. Review!**


	35. Chapter 34

**A/N: Tralalalala.**

**Disclaimer: Abel: At last, we've broken free! Me: Get back here you!!! Abel: God, smite her!**

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"Affirmative."

"Good. Hopefully, I'll see you guys later." Stella said, setting off.

"Don't worry you will." Abel whispered reassuringly to her.

Stella swallowed and turned towards the road. She walked down it, seemingly heading for her apartment. The street was deserted; not even an alley cat or rat seemed to want to tread down these roads. Stella sighed; she would have liked their reassuring company. _Stop that, you're sounding like a human. You're a Titan damn it, start acting like one. You are a creature of the night, embracing it and using it to your will._

Stella set out with renewed vigor. Well, as much as she could, considering she was going all of two miles an hour. She added a limp in there every now and then to make sure she looked like she was an ordinary hurt Terran, walking home. It wasn't that hard, considering her wound in her side. She smiled grimly at the talk she had had with Father Nightroad earlier that day.



"Stella?"

"Yes, Father Nightroad?" Stella said politely, though inside she was gritting her teeth. The wound itched and burned like hell.

"Why don't you heal that wound of yours? I can smell the blood, so I know you haven't taken care of it."

Stella didn't meet Abel's concerned eyes. "I will live with it. I absolutely refuse to heal a wound I deserve." She looked at Abel's face and realized that he was confused. She bowed her head in shame. "I'm sorry, Father Nightroad, for that wound you have. I should have sensed the Methuselah and instead I allowed my awareness to falter and for that you suffered as well as I. I completely deserve this wound and I will live with it as a reminder that I should never again let something like this happen."

"It wasn't your fault." Abel said gently, reaching out a hand to put it on her shoulder.

Stella pulled away. "It was." She whispered and walked away.

She heard Abel say quietly and pityingly, "Stella."



Abel trudged through the streets, wrapping his cloak closer to him. He really was at a loss of what to do. He'd been walking for hours and the moon was growing closer and closer to the end of its journey. His feet brought him to the pond in the park. He sat down on a bench.

_Well I suppose there is nothing wrong with sitting down and taking a rest. After all, there's nothing out here. Maybe the vampires figured out our plan._ As he thought that, a black shape seemed to appear in the center of the moon. It got bigger and bigger. Realization dawned on Abel as he whirled around, and was taken by darkness.



_**Bio sweep: **__positive. __**Location: **__18.629 yards. __**Life form: **__Methuselah. _Tres's sensors rang off in his head as he suppressed the urge to state his findings aloud. Doing so would be illogical and dangerous. There was no one to hear him and it might alert the Methuselah to his android nature. _**Objective: **__Masquerade as a Terran. Get captured by enemy Methuselah. Do not resist capture. Observe and find out what and where missing people are. Return to Vatican with Father Abel Nightroad and Miss Stella Iceheart._

Tres felt something rather hard hit his head. _**Normal Terran Reaction: **__Fall to ground unconscious. _Tres fell limply to the ground.



Stella sighed and sat on the curb. _This is useless! There hasn't been a soul on the streets in hours and the night is almost through. _She shook her head miserably. Suddenly, she felt a chill go through her. A Crusnick was close. _Abel. _

She followed her senses to the park. She gasped and hid behind a tree. Father Nightroad and Tres were both on the ground before the fountain, apparently unconscious. Two black-clad Methuselah stood over them. Stella listened to their conversation.

"Two Terrans." One said disgustedly. Stella quelled her anger as he kicked Abel's head.

"Oh well, O has recovered some research from some doctor from thirty years ago. These'll do." This one bent over and slung Tres over his shoulder and the other one took Abel.

Stella decided to make her presence be known. She deliberately brought her foot down on a stick and stepped into the clearing.

"Well, at least one of our captives will be pretty enough to keep around." The first one smiled cruelly.

Without putting Abel down, he ran at Stella and knocked her on the side of the head. Swallowing her pride, Stella fell and manually shut down her systems.

A/N: to shed a little light on the last sentence, Crusnicks, androids, titans and some Methuselah have at least a little control over their body functions, so Stella literally knocked herself out.


	36. Chapter 35

**A/N: Boo!**

**Disclaimer:** **We've come to an agreement. If all of you lawyers get down on the ground and grovel, I'll let the Trinity Blood cast go and I'll admit that I do not own Trinity Blood.**

Abel regained consciousness last. He blinked. Something was cold on his face. Stella's face swam into view. He blinked again, and Stella removed her cold hand from his face.

"Father Nightroad, you're awake." She said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Yes, where are we?" Abel sat up.

Stella looked around. "We are…" she trailed off.

"Altitude: three hundred feet below surface level. Location: dungeon of large mass of stone, most likely as castle." Tres said stonically.

"What is it with bad guys and castles?" Stella asked, obviously venting her frustration. Abel stood up, the sudden movement making him sway. Stella turned and steadied him by placing a firm hand on his elbow. "Are you all right, Abel?"

Abel nodded. "Fine." He glanced outside the bars of their cell. So far it looked like they were in a stone prison, complete with different levels as far as the eye could see. If he concentrated and used the nanomachines, he could see miserable dark shapes huddled in the cells across from them. "Now, what's your idea of getting out?"

Footsteps echoed from somewhere out in the. Stella smiled grimly. "Here it comes."



Stella woke up in the small, dank cell. She blinked her eyes and sat up. Abel was in the middle of the room, still unconscious. Tres, however, was sprawled in a corner looking like a broken doll. The awful vacant look in his eyes didn't help either.

Still numb, Stella shuffled over to him. Putting her fingers where his temple would be, she willed the kinetic energy in her body to move faster. Minutes later, a blue bit of energy shot from her fingers and into Tres. She sat down, breathing heavily. The abuse of her systems had taken a lot out of her.

"Miss Stella Iceheart, status report. Your skin is thirty degrees colder than that of the healthy being."

Stella closed her eyes and rested her head against the uneven stones. "I'm fine Tres, I just need to wake up a bit." It was true. Being half dead for four hours can really take it out of you.

As Tres recharged, Stella listened to a pair of boots' walking echoing off the stones. She heard the high-pitched squeal of the bars being slid back, just as she expected. What she did not expect was what came next.

_**AAAAAHHHHHH!!!**_

The blood-curdling scream echoed and repeated itself many times. Stella blinked back tears from the pain and the pity for that poor wretch that made that noise. He heart absolutely broke at the next words.

"Please…" It was a woman's voice. "Please, no. Don't take me. Don't take me…." Her words were sobs now. "Please I'll give you anything! I'll do anything…." The woman seemed to choke on her own words. "Any… (sob) thin…(sob) hing" (lots of sobbing)

"Quiet, Terran." Came a cold voice. Then came the sickening squelch as a solid object hit flesh.

"Mama! Mama!" cried a child no older than three.

"Mama, get us out!" cried another.

"Get up, human." Stella could see them now. They were two stories above them and one cell across. The woman was hauled roughly to her feet and dragged, kicking and screaming down the hall. The worst of it, though, were the children's heart-wrenching cries and their small hands reached between the bars, as if they could pull their fast-disappearing mother back to them.

"Mama! Don't forget me!"

"Wait up, Mama."

"Let us out! We need to get to our Mama!"

"Don't you love us anymore, Mama?"

"Come back, Mama!"

Stella tried her best to block them out; it was an hour until they were totally silent. Stella assumed they had fallen into a sleep. Stella buried her head in her arms, which rested on her bent legs. Tres came over to her to ask what was wrong, but instead, she threw her arms around him and cried on his shoulder. She knew it would do no good, but she cried herself to sleep anyway. However, she could have sworn she felt a pat on her head as she drifted away into her fevered dreams.

When she awoke, she turned her stiff neck to find Abel was still unconscious. She worriedly crawled over to him. Her fingers felt like blocks of heavy cold steel. _**That's what you get for killing yourself, giving someone an electronic shot, and then falling asleep! **__And the annoying voice returns. __**Damn right. Now, wake up Abel!**_

"Father Nightroad, Father Nightroad. You must wake up now." She said, shaking his shoulders gently.

When this did not work Stella thought for a moment, then looked at her own cold hands. They were hurting and cold, but she knew that that was just the result of them coming back to life. Acting on a whim, she placed her fingers on the side of his face and willed a little bit of the pain to him. Not enough for him to actually feel it, but enough to get his brain to send some signals.

He opened his eyes and after being greeter, asked where they were. Tres helped Stella explain their predicament and after her outburst about bad guys and castles, Stella stood. She had heard a door open.

"Now, what is your idea of getting out?" asked Abel.

Stella heard the echoing footsteps before anyone else. She knew that the footsteps were coming for them, she just knew it. They seemed louder and as they grew closer, Stella's heart sank more and more, knowing that they were coming to get them. (A/N: Imagine yourself in an emergency waiting room, and the doctor comes out of surgery and you just _know_ that he is coming to tell you that someone you love just died.) _**Shut up. **__What? __**What's with this scariness all of the sudden? What happed to the fearless Titan that was built to hunt Crusnicks, the toughest thing out there? **__You're right. I will do this. I am a Titan_, _damn it._

Everyone could hear the footsteps now. "Here it comes."

**A/N: all right, who's ready for action? Who's ready for saving all those people? Who's ready to finally find out what is going on? We, you'll just have to wait until the next update.**


	37. Chapter 36

**A/N: bbGebtb ab lbifbebbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb. –all b's**

**Disclaimer: Handing over captives. Here you go. Now if you would ju… Hey! come back here with my ransom.**

Stella tensed, but remained looking defeated and scared. The same man who had knocked her out (or tried to anyway) was standing before her. His pale countenance was made ghostly by the poor lighting and his choice in clothes. Dirty blonde hair gave off a weird sheen in the small light of the lantern he held. _Time to repay the favor. _Stella thought dryly.

"Hello. You three have been chosen along with many others to participate in some experimentations that will help Methuselah, like me, defend ourselves against your ghastly species." He said in a low voice as he unlocked the door and slid the bars right.

"Just how many are here?"

"Four dozen Terrans and one dozen Methuselah." He commented, before stepping forward. "You three are going to be very useful. Two strong males and one pretty female."

"Can you tell us anything else about what is going to happen to us?" Stella carried on the conversation, ignoring the man's lecherous looks.

The man looked downtrodden for a moment. "I am too young. I will not be told anything until I am needed. When I am needed, however, I will follow my orders without question. Just as you will now."

"You won't get the chance." Stella said calmly.

She jumped on the man and pulled a thin knife out of nowhere. She slit his throat, going almost halfway through. When she turned back to the men, she saw Abel staring at her, mouth gaping.

"How did you…. How did you get a weapon? Me and Tres were stripped bare!" (A/N: Not like that, you perv.)

Stella shrugged and stood up. "As was I, but I had this." She held up the knife, no more than a razor, really, in her hand. "Hidden in my bra. Apparently, they were too bashful to look there. Good thing, too." She looked at Abel, who was blushing furiously. "Oh please, Father Nightroad. I know you priests are innocent, but surely you are not _that _innocent not to know what a…" She watched as Abel's face took crimson to a whole new level. "Father Nightroad, do I really need to explain this to you?"

Abel gaped at her, speechless. Stella giggled at his face. She felt people in other cells move. Apparently giggles were not heard in this place.

"Father Abel Nightroad, bras are generally used to r-"

Abel immediately tried to dissuade Tres from going any farther into his description. Stella rolled her eyes and bent down. _How he is able to bring comedy into any situation? _She pulled two needles out of each of her shoes. She unbound her hair, which had been in a ponytail, and took out two pins that snapped into knives as well, though slightly smaller than the one in her hand. Turning away from the men, she took out one razor knife from the other side of her bra, and two bigger ones from the back. The ones in the back were quite a bit larger than the two she held in her hands, more like small silver daggers. They had cut her in several places, but she ignored it.

"Father Nightroad, you will be taking two silver daggers, one large and one small. Tres, you're the same. I'll take the four needles and the hair-pin knives." Stella threw the weapons at their assigned owners.

"Right." Abel nodded, all silliness and embarrassment forgotten.

"Let's go." Stella ran out of the cell.

An old man saw them first. He threw himself at the bars of his cell, pleading for them to bring him with them. Stella tried to get him to calm down and told him that they would be back for him, but the man's wits were far too gone. He screamed and pulled his hair, then rolled to the back of the cell and rocked himself in the fetal position. Stella took a deep breath and hurried onward.

A bolted steel door came into view. It took Tres's full weight to open it. The room they entered was vastly different than the room they were just in. In fact, it looked like a mansion's reception room. The bronze tiled floor had a straight red carpet covering it in a path to the pearl-like steps. There was a pounding from somewhere around them. Left with few places to go, Stella strode toward the stairs.

Stella could tell that Abel followed her with some apprehension. The pounding sounded like what a fish would hear if you tapped on the glass of their bowl, what's more it sounded as if it were on this floor. Still, there were no doors and Stella doubted there was much to find in this hallway. So up it was, then.

Stella ran up the steps and Abel, despite his long legs, had to try very hard to keep up with her. Tres kept up well enough. By time they reached top, her calves were on fire and her chest screaming at her for going up forty-five degree steps so fast. She ignored her body's complaints for the decision at hand.

Stella gazed along the hallway for a moment. Both sides of the steps were strikingly similar, but her Titan senses told her it wasn't. _Sight. _There were expensive vases and big chests and hallway tables down the left corridor, while the right was left bare except for high placed paintings. _Smell. _There was a normal, wooden smell down the left hallway, but the right had the smell of old dried blood, various bodily fluids as well as dried dirt. Someone went down that hallway often. _Hear. _Stella didn't even look down the left corridor again. There was a resonating, almost pulse similar to the ones downstairs.

She ran down the hall without question, with the men's footsteps not far behind. There was more of a blood smell now, and if one would look closely, or had a chemical in their blood forcing them to, you would see small places on the wall where the owners had attempted to wash it away. They came upon many doors, but most of them were bedrooms and the like. Finally, they came to a dead end.

Abel was about to suggest they go back, in fact he even started to say so, but Stella sniffed the air knowing it would silence him. The sniff brought the heavy scent of fresh paint through her nose. She blinked a searched the walls. Nothing as far as she could see. _Feel. _She ran her hand along the wall. There. It was an indent in the paint so miniscule that no one would see it. She put her face as close as she could to it, her nose brushing the paint. _Yep, someone definitely painted here, and it wasn't that long ago. _She followed the indent with her finger, chipping the paint away with her nail. Soon, a five foot by six foot rectangle was in front of them. She went to the right side of the door, looking up and down and running her fingers along. She knew that both of her companions were wondering what she was doing, but she was glad that they knew better than to ask. Finally, she found that near the top of the door, much to high for ordinary humans, there was a small square bump in the paint. She used her nail to chip away at this until it finally revealed a square of wallpaper. She pealed this off to find a perfectly round hole in the rectangle. Hooking her fingers into it, she pulled, using every ounce of Titan strength. A normal human wouldn't have been able to do it, much less a weakened and emancipated one like the people in the cells below them. The rectangle opened to a gray, lightless, and hopeless hallway that seemed to exude cold.

"Now what was that, Father Nightroad, about turning back?"

**A/N: Ohhh… spooky. Hey guys, whats up? I left the last chapter on longer than any of the others and it didn't get a single review. Anime tears flowing down cheeks. don't you love me anymore? Ach, go to hell. Just kidding, god you guys need to learn how to take a joke. Review or bad things will happen. Mwhahahahaha!**


	38. Chapter 37

**A/N: YAY! I am loved again1 I got two reviews for the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Let me refer you to hallway was cold and for once Abel was glad for the extra cape attachment on his priest's habit. He felt bad for Stella, but remembering she was a Titan, held his tongue. Of course the running helped warm his legs but the fire in his chest was an icy one.**

Stella kept the pace, and they were not hindered, as they had nowhere else to go but forward. Eventually she stopped. Tres, who could stop motion on the drop of a dime, did also, but Abel careened into her back. For once, she ignored him and her normally happy face was serious and drawn.



Another steel door was in front of them along with two smaller ones to the side. Stella put her ear to the middle one. She could hear the pounding and the door vibrated under her fingers and ear. The door to the left had not one living soul in it, and nothing that would make any noise on its own. The door to the right had at least two people in it, and many objects giving off a strong electronic pulse. The breath caught in her throat as she heard footsteps coming towards them.

Quickly she opened the door to the room with no one in it. She pushed Abel inside and shut the door quietly as soon as Tres had moved inside. She put her head to the door again and listened as the footsteps came closer, then started to fade.

She looked around the room and the breath caught in her throat. It was a laboratory… one just like the one that had been next to her room she shared with her family decades ago. She swallowed hard. Thee were fling cabinets lining the wall and a table in the middle of the room. Next to the table were small counters with needles on them. She shook. Every minute, antiseptic detail was all too familiar to her. What was worse was the fact that she knew in that moment what was going on.

She half fell down as a cry escaped her throat. She covered her mouth with her hand, but she wasn't crying. She was growling. She needed to calm down or she would tear the place apart. Abel and Tres included. Her vision blurred and her nails sharpened as they dug into scalp. _No, you have to stop this… _She couldn't be too late. If she went too far, there would be nothing anyone could do.



"Stella!" Abel rushed forward and kneeled beside Stella.

She was shaking; her nails were drawing blood from where they had moved from her head to her arms. She was making strangling noises, and repeating 'no' over and over again. Abel forced her to look at him and saw her eyes had a thin veil of red over them. He knew what was happening.

"Stella, can you hear me? Stella, listen to me!" This seemed to get a reaction; she stopped hurting herself at least and looked at him.

"Abel, please…" she said softly. "Please… help me…"

**A/N: Dun. Dun. Dun. I just love to tease you guys. What do you think of character death? Just kidding… shifty eyes. Sorry for the shortness. **


	39. Chapter 38

**A/N: writers block…. Erg….. All I can think about is my other fanfic, Moon Child, which you should read if you like Sesshomaru.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Trinity Blood, the series wouldn't have ended.**

Stella gasped and her body jerked. She was drowning in her own bloodlust. She needed to stop this now or it would be Abel's blood she was drowning on. She called out to her friend, but couldn't hear his voice. Everything was seen through a red mist. She bit her finger in an attempt to bring herself back, but the metallic taste of blood set her senses aflame.

_A girl looked at by all with revulsion…_

She gritted her teeth and screamed through them holding her head. Her finger drove themselves in her head and drew blood.

_"I'm sorry…"_

Her fingers greedily sucked in the blood, absorbing it and adding it to its own power. Stella shut her eyes tight and writhed away from something restraining her against herself.

"_I'm a monster…"_

Her fangs grew sharper. She lifted her tongue slightly, and there was a deep gash left. Her Titan healing fixed her, but the string of pain remained like a scar.

_"You are not a monster…"_

Stella's eyes snapped open. Abel's words echoed through her head. Her fangs went back to their original size.

_Strong arms embracing her…_

Stella dropped her arms to her sides, limply letting them hand there. Her eyes drained of the bloodlust.

_Someone's voice whispering into her hair…_

Stella looked around. Tres was standing before her, emotionlessly watching her. But where…

_"You are not a monster."_

"You are not a monster."



Abel felt Stella go limp. He whispered into her hair the only words that seemed to have had any affect on her. Four blue eyes met as Stella looked at him, her being devoid of any bloodlust. Before he knew what was happening, Stella threw her arms around him.

"Abel, thank you."

She grew limp once again. Abel put her down, hoping that she would be all right.

"Status report, Father Abel Nightroad."

"I think she will be all right after some rest, Tres. I remember when I had to resist my Crusnick. It was exhausting. She needs some rest."

"Acceptable."

Abel sat on the floor. "What do we do now?"

Stella moaned slightly.

"Well, I guess we could wait until Stella wakes up. Titans heal easier, I suppose."

"Acceptable."

They sat there in silence for twenty minutes. Stella groaned a few times, then her blue eyes flew open. She blinked a few times and moaned.

"Are you all right, Stella?"

Stella closed her eyes for a moment. Every now and then her fingers or legs would twitch. "No sustaining injuries, and my state of mind is all right. I'm too tired to move. I might as well be paralyzed." She raised her neck with obcious diffuculty and let her head fall on the solid cement floor. "Stupid!"

Abel smiled. "You shouldn't blame yourself you did very well."

Stella blinked then shook her head. "What do we do now?"

"We have to figure out what's going on."

"I already know."

"What?" Abel looked at her with astonishment.

"They are genetically mutating Methuselah faster than evolution intended and that is having adverse affects on the ones they test their drugs on. The human victims were nothing more than just that, human victims. I have a feeling that if we went back into those cells, half of them would be humans the other half, Methuselah. The Methuselah who escaped or allowed on the streets cannot be controlled, explaining the Methuselah victim and those two humans that were found." Stella sighed and Abel saw her eyes well over, though the tears did not spill. "That's why they have been changing and that's why Methuselah criminal acts have been multiplying over the past two years."

"Very good, for a Terran."

They all jumped as the voice echoed throughout the room. Abel stood up, pulling out his gun and ready to defend his fallen friend. He looked around wildly, but no one was in the room with them.

"Where are you?" he called out boldly.

"Father Abel Nightroad, I can detect the sounds are coming from a loud speaker point five meters above your head and three meters over." Tres said.

There was an evil chuckle. "How about this, you three come and see me in the main room and we see what we can do with you?" There was a crackle and the speaker was gone.

Stella tried to lift herself up and failed. Sighing she said, "They are going to try to eat us. They will be surprised when they find a Crusnick, Titan and an android fighting."

Abel stooped down to try to pick her up. "You can't fight." He said firmly.

Stella growled. "Father Nightroad, if I see you two getting hurt or if myself is in danger I will not be able to resist my demon."

Abel was taken aback by the sudden fierceness in her usually docile blue eyes. He bit his lip. "Stella, if we are not in danger I want you stay out of the fight."

Stella nodded, or at least tried to, considering her head was on the ground. Tres stepped around Abel and picked her up. They walked outside and down the cold corridor. When they stepped out into the hallway, Abel kept an eye on the dark, waiting figure in the grand room just before the prison.

When they had fully descended the steps, Abel heard Stella gasp from behind him. "I know him!"

**A/N: Pretty obvious, don't ya think?**


	40. Chapter 39

**A/N: Erg… must defeat… writer's block. God, why does it feel like I've said this before?**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN TRINITY BLOOD.**

**Abel: Use your inside voice, please.**

A low, evil chuckle. "Well, well. My pretty neighbor from the Terran building. This is a surprise."

"I knew there was something wrong with you." Stella said bravely from her paralyzed position in Tres's arms.

"Hmm? Well, it's too late now. Three Terrans against a Methuselah? I doubt you'll make five minutes." He moved from Abel sight. Abel spun around to see him cupping Stella's face and whispering into her ear, "But don't worry, I'll spare you. You will make a fine vampire."

"Get away from her!' Abel yelled and shot at the Methusalah.

He'd lost too many friends this way; just talking while there was an urgent situation at hand. Thoughts of Lilth, Noelle, Ion, and Esther passed through his vision. Stella flinched as the silver bullet met its target too close to her head for comfort.

"Abel, that won't work, he's… mmph!" Stella's mouth was covered by the vampire's hand.

Tres tried to move away from the vampire, but his grip was too strong and Stella fell towards him, her legs sprawled out around her. Abel could tell that Stella was trying to sink her fangs into his hand, but it was gloved and he kept his palm falt.

"No. No. No, can't have that, can we?" the man purred. When Stella did not move him away, he scowled. "Hmm, what's wrong Stella? Been trying the drugs in the lab? Or is it that you just can't resist me? Hehe." He threw her body away from him and she bounced across the floor. "You Terrans disgust me."

_"Crusnick 02: Nanomachines forty percent. Operate."_

Abel used his claws to make the first move. All he did was nick the man, but that was enough. His scythe appeared and he grasped it tightly, resisting the urge to swing it at him, letting the fear slowly kill the man before he did the job himself. He was rewarded with the man's widening eyes and quavering voice.

"What are you?" the man asked fearfully.

"I am a Crusnick." Abel's metallic guttural voice rang out through the room.

His scythe came down again and the man went flying, right into the wall next to the steel door. He moved in front of him and raised the scythe, but for the second he brought the weapon down, it was not the man in front of him, but Kampher, the second time he met him, when the White Noise was in Rome. He remembered the promise he made not to kill anyone, and even though he had done so, it saved someone else. It _always_ saved someone else. He scythe pierced the floor.

_No! Do it! Do it now! You'll be saving all those poor people's lives!_ But he could not bring himself to do it, not after all he had done. He barely felt the punch in the stomach and only realized he was under attack when he felt air started rushing by him and his back hit the floor, sending him bouncing a few feet away.



Stella let Tres help her upper body up. Her strength was slowly coming back, but she still couldn't move her legs, which stayed limply on the floor and she grasped his arm in a vice-like grip. She gasped with the exertion, but kept her eyes trained on the fight in front of her.

"What's he doing?" she asked when she saw Abel hesitate. She winced when he hit the floor and rolled.

"Father Abel Nightroad made a promise to himself long ago, to never kill anyone nor allow anyone else to die. He cannot bring himself to kill the Methuselah. Miss Stella Iceheart, I must assist Father Abel Nightroad."

"There's no need." Stella felt her strength return rapidly as she got angry and realized that once again she would have to summon her Titan ferocity. She saw someone running from the shadows of the room, and knew instincutaully that, that person was in charge here, that he was a part of the bigger thing. She had to go after _him. _Stella stood and her limbs shook but slowly they grew sturdy and she could stand up straight. "Tres, when I have killed the Methuselah," her eyes bled red, "shoot me."

Before Tres had time to reply, she charged forward. Abel was still grappling with whom she now recognized as Mr. Onigoma, but without his scythe. Mr. Onigoma's fingers came together to sword points. Her heart and her legs went into over-drive as she hurried to stop the oncoming blows.

"Terran, Methusalah, Crusnick, it doesn't matter. I'll kill you!" The vampire roared as he lifted his arms into the air..

The next events passed seemingly without noise. Stella dove under Mr. Onigoma and in front of Abel. The first sword hit her in the arm and the other in the chest. Her hand was cut as she grabbed the sword and wrenched the sword off of Onigoma's wrist. Mr. Onigoma's own hand went through his heart and across his neck. A head rolled on the floor. Blood stained the bronze finishing and snuck into crevices. Stella stood. A shot was fired.

**A/N: Mwhahaha. Got to leave you there, there was no way I was going to not be evil and not make you wait for the next chapter.**


	41. Chapter 40

**A/N: I still have writer's block. I need help!**

**Disclaimer: ******

"Here, ma'am, let me help you." Leon held an arm out to a weakened woman.

He helped her out of the prison and into the open air. He saw Abel, sitting alone on a sidewalk, looking at nothing and depressed. _Bad road, bad road._ Leon thought as he deposited the woman with Tres. He walked over to Abel.

"Hey, she'll come back." He clapped a hand on Abel's shoulder. When there was no response, he let Abel.

"I didn't." he whispered.



"Cardinal Kate mission report: John L. Onigoma was illegally genetically evolving Methuselahs. He has been taken to prison and is now receiving punishment from the Inquisition. Victims are being returned to their homes and receiving proper medical treatment. Miss Stella Iceheart remains missing."

"And Father Nightroad?"

"He's…. he just needs some time." Michael Leon interjected.

The room was full of people. Cardinal Kate stood on the side of the desk, just as she had years ago. Catharine sat at the desk; the same but for her once golden curls were white. Tres stood in front, and both Leons leaned against the walls.

"Damn it! This is Sister Noelle all over again." Leon Sr. muttered. "'cept this time we don't have Esther to cheer him up."

Mention of the deceased Queen darkened the room's atmosphere considerably.

"He'll have us." Catharine said loudly.

Both Leons nodded.

"Do we have any idea where Stella is?"

"Miss Stella Iceheart ran in the direction of the lab after she was shot in the abdomen. We followed her blood trail to a woman trapped in a room in the lab. She said she observed Miss Stella Iceheart pursuing 'Him'. The woman was too far into a state of delirium when we mentioned 'him' that we could not extract information as to who 'he' is." Tres said.

Catharine pressed her lips together. "Fine. All we can do is keep her in our prayers."

They fell silent then, as if praying for her right there.



Abel walked around the fountain, remembering the last time he had felt like this, Esther had been there to comfort him and it had been raining. He sat and raised his head to the sky.

"Esther, I'm so sorry… I think… I feel like…" He hung his head. "I've done as you asked, Esther."

The note was held, crumpled in his hands. The only words that were still readable, were the last advice Esther had given him.

_Abel, I want you to love again._

**A/N: I'm sorry, I wasn't sure how to end this. God, this is hard! Sorry if I disappointed you guys. Look out for the sequel!**


End file.
